Everything You Want
by Dove and Thalia
Summary: The launching fic for the H.M.S Bronze Snitch. Roger Davies and Cho Chang have been friends since childhood. Then there's a misunderstanding and Roger breaks a childhood promise. It's hard to pretend you're not in love...
1. Goodbye to You

~*Everything You Want*~

Chapter One: Goodbye to You

Thalia: Whee! Another Collaboration! These are fun, aren't they? Once again, co-written with the wonderful Dove! *holds up "Applause" sign*. This is dedicated to all Ravenclaws, and Roger/Cho shippers in particular! *waves a blue and bronze flag* As always, enjoy the fic, and leave both of us mucho reviews!!!

Dove: Hear hear!  We would also love new crewmembers to our fun Roger/Cho SHIP, the H.M.S. Bronze Snitch, on FictionAlley… So come join those of us who think Cho is too awesome to spend the rest of her life moping… or get her head chopped off or something… I personally will never understand Cho bashers.  Anybody who has a cohesive reason built up as to why to hate her… do drop by and give me your ideas.  I think you'll find you don't have a proper reason…

Disclaimer: Neither of us are fortunate enough to own any Quidditch hotties, of this you should be aware. If we were, we would probably be so happy and content that even a little thing like you suing us wouldn't disturb our eternal joy. But as it is, we don't own any Quidditch hotties, so don't sue, since it's not like we have anything you want anyway....

_"And it hurts to want everything_

_And nothing at the same time_

_I want what's yours_

_And I want what's mine_

_I want you_

_But I'm not giving in this time..."_

-Michelle Branch, "Goodbye to You"

The house was entirely silent except for the snip-snip-snip of a pair of angry-sounding scissors. Standing by a window, a mutinous look on her otherwise beautiful face, a young girl was doggedly cutting her jet-black hair. Strand by strand, lock by lock, the waist-length raven tresses fell to the assault of the scissors.

When the snipping had finally ceased, the girl's hair barely brushed her shoulders. Grasping the long inky strands that had fallen onto the floor in one tiny fist, she opened the window and flung them out... out towards the house next door, with all her strength. She watched with a savage sort of satisfaction as they landed on the clean white stone of a birdbath, drowning in the clear water, black against white.

"You broke your promise, Roger!" Cho Chang whispered in a voice laden with sorrow and fury. Glaring at the house next door one last time, she slammed the window shut, whirled around, and walked away.

After pacing around her room like a caged lioness, she finally fell back onto her bed, looking up at the ceiling with a mutinous expression.  Those who did not know her would have thought her calmly furious.  Those who did know her would realize that Cho Chang was very near crying, something that happened so rarely no one would know quite what to make of it.

The reason for her tears was simple and yet horribly difficult.  He was, in fact, probably sitting in his room, doing summer homework.  The reason's name was Roger Davies, and he had aggravated poor Cho to no end in the past several months.  She had, at first, attempted to work things out.  Roger, however, remained passively cool, until Cho was very nearly ready to set him on fire to warm the atmosphere a precious few degrees.

Roger had been her neighbor and a fair-weather friend throughout her childhood.  When the two of them began attending Hogwarts, he was something of her mentor, the older student that kept her out of any amount of trouble.  This past year, she had proven her skills as an athlete and taken her place as Seeker on the Quidditch team that Roger captained.  They had really become close friends at this point, and Cho had thought that perhaps-just perhaps-something better was growing out of it.

Well, she had just had everything slammed back in her face, and she had no idea why.  All she did know was that, as children, she and Roger had made a promise to always trust each other, and Roger had decided, for reasons unknown to her, not to listen to a perfectly reasonable explanation for her behavior, instead choosing to give her the cold shoulder for months, only talking to her when it was absolutely necessary, and even then in terse, clipped sentences.

Cho Chang had moved into the wizarding neighborhood of Hogsmeade from China when she was six. Her mother, a former top student and Prefect of Ravenclaw House at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, had married a young ambassador from the Chinese Ministry of Magic and followed him to Beijing, where she gave birth to a daughter. Now, because of a new promotion, Mr. Chang was again stationed in Britain, and so, Cho, after a long and dizzying journey via portkey, had come to Hogsmeade.

That afternoon, a day after she moved in, she was sitting on the stairs looking through a book when her mother had invited the neighbor woman over to tea.  "Ying-Ying! It is lovely to see you again!" A smiling young woman with auburn curls and bright blue eyes hugged Cho's mother in an almost sisterly fashion as soon as she arrived. Cho's mother, also smiling, returned the embrace warmly.

"Yes, Cecilia, it has certainly been a while! I haven't seen you since your wedding with Matthew Davies, how have you been?" Curious, Cho had walked downstairs. Her mother caught sight of her, and pulled her forward, presenting her to the woman called Cecilia, "Cho, this is Mrs. Davies; she was a friend of mine when we were in school together. Cecilia, this is my daughter, Cho."

Cho had solemnly greeted the woman, who patted her head kindly, and said to her mother, "She's a pretty little darling, Ying-Ying. Bring her over sometime when you visit, I've a son named Roger, about her age, I'm sure they would love to meet each other and become friends." Little did they know that the two would be meeting very soon, sooner than they would expect.

"Of course I will," Cho's mother replied, then gave her daughter a little push towards the door, "Run along, dear, go outside and play; Mrs. Davies and I will be having tea."

Cho had cheerfully skipped away, gone to explore the grounds surrounding her house. She was poring over a pretty birdbath carved of white stone in the next yard, when she felt someone pulling on one of her braids. The good, obedient little Oriental girl that had charmed Mrs. Davies vanished in an instant, and Cho turned around, dark eyes blazing, small hands clenched into fists. In a high-pitched, slightly accented voice, she had shrieked, "How _dare you?! So rude!!" at the offender, a boy perhaps a year or two older than her, with a shock of black hair and blue eyes. He seemed to have found it quite amusing, and laughed, giving her braid another tug before she slapped his hand away. Her childish tirade had continued, with her reverting to Chinese when she could not think of English threats and names gruesome enough to fit his transgressions, until her mother and Mrs. Davies had finished tea, and went outside to see the two of them, the boy with a bewildered look on his face as Cho was screaming at him in Chinese. Needless to say, after figuring out what had happened, both mothers made their children apologize to each other, much to said children's distaste. Cho had found out that the boy's name was Roger, and resolved to hate him all her life._

This resolution lasted for about a month, until one day, when she was walking down the street picking flowers for her mother, a big seven-year-old boy named Arnold Derrick, who seemed to be the neighborhood bully, had sauntered down the street, snatching away her flowers and stomping on them. Cho was never one to let someone pick on her like that, so at once, she started to yell at him. When words did not seem to be effective, she had resorted to fists. The problem with that was Arnold Derrick was a year older, a few inches taller and a good twenty pounds heavier than her, and it would have gone very badly for her had Roger not come running from his yard, where he was trying out his new broomstick, and proceeded to beat Arnold Derrick about the head with it. Unable to hold his own against the both of them, Arnold had fled, and from then on, Cho and Roger were the best of friends.

The two were inseparable until one day, when she was nine, Roger had gotten his Hogwarts letter. Cho had heard all about Hogwarts from her mother, of the four houses and the enchanted ceiling, of the Great Hall and the Quidditch Teams and whatnot, but none of this meant anything, except that her friend would be leaving, and she would no longer be able to see him except for holidays and summer. To the nine-year-old girl, this was nothing short of a calamity, and she shed many tears over it. The last night before he would leave, the two of them were sitting by the birdbath where they had first met, watching fireflies fly by, and she had begged him to owl her often, and tell her everything that went on. He had agreed.

"Sure, Cho, I'll owl you and tell you everything that happens, as long as you'll believe me and not say I'm lying." he had joked.

"Of course I'll believe you, silly! I trust you!" she had exclaimed.

"Well, that's good. Will you always trust me?" he had wondered aloud. She had answered in the affirmative.

"Of course I will, I promise! I will always trust you, just like you'll always trust me, right?"

"Right. I promise." He replied solemnly. At that moment, his mother called for him to go in, they had a big day tomorrow! He had pulled her hair lightly, making her laugh, and went back to his house. Cho saw him waving at his window, and she waved back. He left the next day.

He kept his word, and for two years, the owls flew back and forth, awe-filled letters from him telling of how incredible everything at school was, wistful ones from her telling of how boring it was here, with no one to play one-on-one Quidditch with. Roger, like his mother and hers, had been sorted into Ravenclaw House, and loved it there.

Then, when she was eleven, she, too, received her Hogwarts letter, and the first thing she did was to rush over to tell Roger, who was home for the summer. He had listened to her excited gushing, laughed a little, and promised to save her a seat if she got sorted into Ravenclaw House. Before they knew it, the term had started, and Cho found herself walking up to a stool to be sorted, as a tall, bespectacled witch called out her name.

The hat had been clapped over her head, and a voice had sounded in her ear, "Well well! An interesting case, for sure. You're quite a spirited one, very smart too, aren't you? Where shall I put you? You could do well in either Gryffindor or Ravenclaw..." Cho had squeezed her eyes shut, wishing fervently for Ravenclaw. "Oh, is that so? Yes, yes, I believe that you do belong there, and that you will be a credit to your house. Enjoy your stay at RAVENCLAW!"

Practically squealing with glee, she had tumbled off the stool, hurriedly handed the hat back to the bespectacled witch, and ran over to the Ravenclaw table, finding Roger at once and giving him an excited hug. A few boys at the table, obviously his friends, had hooted and laughed, and he had blushed slightly, but had otherwise accepted her exuberant salutation in good humor. And since then, Roger had continued to be her chum. The one to help her with her homework when some particularly difficult Potions assignment had her tearing her hair out. The one who had showed her, with strict instructions never to tell anyone, how to successfully sneak down to the kitchens in the evenings to get some food. The one to listen to her rant about how positively annoying that one girl in her dorm was, monopolizing the washroom in the mornings to curl her hair. Similarly, she would joke around with him in the evenings after the two of them had finished their homework. She would be the one cheering the loudest at his Quidditch games. And Merlin help anyone else who dared to ruffle or pull her hair, who had _not saved her from a bully by clobbering the prat with a broomstick!_

Cho was still not sure when things had changed.  They had always been friends, but in the past year, she had seen Roger look at her in a completely new fashion.  Conversations stopped when she entered the room, and she had a distinct feeling they might have been about her.  She might have felt slighted, but the general consensus was that Roger liked Cho-a lot.  Cho had not been entirely sure whether she wanted anything to do with this yet-in her experience, boys were far more pleasant companions when romance was not involved.  Of course, Cassandra, the one with the obsession with her curling iron, had added to this.  Cho certainly didn't want to be anything like Cassandra or her cronies, who seemed to think that if boys didn't like you, that was the end of the world, and nothing could heal the heinous wounds.  Cho was still wondering what they were doing in Ravenclaw.

Horrible roommates and insecurities aside, Cho was quite satisfied to be by herself for now.  She was a popular girl, though she had an inkling her popularity was caused by her cursing at Snape first year-in Chinese, with such a blank face that Snape had been convinced she was just muttering ingredients over her assignment.  Becoming the first student to ever get away with anything in Snape's class had been a huge boost for the small Chinese girl with the incredibly long hair and the perfect poker face.  Everyone liked Cho, and Cho liked everyone back.  She just wasn't sure she wanted to like anyone in _particular for a while yet._

Then she had met Cedric Diggory.  She had been sure no one would catch her in the Astronomy Tower at three in the morning three days into her third year-studying, naturally-when the Hufflepuff Prefect had cleared his throat behind her and asked, in amused tones, what she was doing.  A flustered Cho retorted that she was sure it wasn't what _he had come up here to do, and Cedric, instead of looking insulted, had laughed heartily before asking her if Orion was bright tonight._

They had been friends since.  Everyone in Hufflepuff House _respected Cedric, but he had few real friends, and Cho just happened to be the best of them.  He told her everything, and she soon got into the habit of doing the same.  Cedric was incredibly kind, loyal, and sweet, a pin-up even among members of his own house.  Cho felt safe telling him all her secrets, assured they would never be forced past his lips under any circumstances.  Cho considered him her best friend.  Roger was wonderful, but, after all, he looked at her in that uncomfortable way, obviously quite aware she was a pretty girl as well as his friend.  Cedric seemed oblivious to the fact, or if he wasn't, his affections lay firmly elsewhere.  Well, Cho knew __now, anyway.  She hadn't at the time, but she was still instinctually aware that Cedric was, for all means and purposes, "safe"._

She lay on top of her dark blue bedspread and fumed.  It was better to fume than to cry.  The tears were horribly close anyway as she fingered the ends of her hair absently.  Roger had told her, when she was small, that she had the prettiest hair he had ever seen.  At that time the compliment seemed the most beautiful thing Cho had ever heard, and she had rashly promised never to cut it off.  It had been nothing but a hindrance since she had begun playing Quidditch, but she had never even thought of getting it cut, had in fact protested the idea, until now.  Well, Roger could just eat his stupid promises.  _She certainly didn't care.  Perhaps she would owl Cedric, who was far more understanding and certainly less judgmental than Roger was.  A tear slipped past her control before she could help herself._

Furiously wiping her wet cheek with the back of one hand, she sat down at her desk and started a letter to Cedric... nice, understanding, sympathetic Cedric, who would patiently listen to her vent out her anger and bitterness, just as she would faithfully keep his secrets for him. The words soon covered her parchment, the ink flowing in place of the tears that she refused to shed:

_Dear Cedric,_

_You'll be shocked to hear of what I just did. I just cut my hair. Just went and lopped off about two and a half feet of it. It barely touches my shoulders now, and I look frightful. But that's exactly what I was trying to achieve! _

_You know I told you of how Roger and I were friends since we were both little, and how we promised each other to always trust each other, before he left for Hogwarts? Well, he broke that promise! He doesn't say anything, but I can feel it! How dare he?! So, here's to you, Roger, you broke your promise, I'll break mine! I threw the chopped off hair out my window into Roger's birdbath, and I hope he finds it soon!_

_I'd foolishly told him once upon a time that I would never cut off my hair, because he thought it was pretty. Well, I also foolishly believed that he would keep his promise to me, but he didn't! So now, forgive me for sounding like a petulant child, but it's only fair this way..._

_I don't even know why__ he stopped trusting me... it's just like, one day, he did, and the next, he didn't any more. He wouldn't even tell me, just became this cold, impersonal bloke who no longer noticed my existence. And as much as I hate to admit it, it hurts... it hurts to be invisible to your oldest friend... it hurts that his mates all give me strange looks... it hurts when after Quidditch practices, he goes straight up to the boys' dormitory instead of chatting with me. How could he do that, when I still don't know what unforgivable thing I did to incite this behaviour? So now, my hair is short... take that, Roger!_

_Forgive me, I'm being dreadfully self-absorbed... it's just... I feel so... so upset and furious and frustrated! I'm so glad that I have someone like you to talk to, Cedric, you know that? The one to win your love someday will be a lucky one indeed, to be able to have the heart of someone so kind and sweet and sensitive. You're my best friend, Cedric, someone I can count on, someone I can tell anything to, and I'm honored._

_Well, I hope you're having a happier summer than I am, owl me soon, okay?_

_Your friend,_

_Cho_

Fastening the completed missive to the leg of her gray owl, she let the bird out the window, then grabbed her broomstick. She might as well do something more productive than sitting in her room and sulking, and the shorter hair could only be beneficial towards Quidditch and flying. And she would even make herself not think of her Quidditch captain and former friend while she was doing it!

However, the fates seemed to be conspiring against her once again. When she walked out of her house, she saw, to her vindictive satisfaction, a tall, dark-haired young man bending over a birdbath, his handsome face a mask of shock, one hand slowly and dazedly lifting limp ebony strands of hair out of the water. Cho set her teeth, and rose into the air.

Roger Davies, having finished a long and grueling transfiguration essay, had decided to go outside for some fresh air. Rubbing his eyes, he had stepped out into his yard, and promptly, at the sight that greeted him, rubbed his eyes again, hoping against hope that he was just imagining things.

He wasn't.

"Cho!"  She pointedly ignored him as she sped around doing loops in the air, very satisfied at the speed she was getting, especially from a Cleansweep.  _"Cho!" he called again.  "Damn it, Chang, __get down here!"_

Poker face on, she lowered to the ground.  He seemed struck speechless by her new appearance for a few moments.  Expression blank, she tucked some hair behind her right ear.

"Damn it, Chang, what do you think you're doing?"

"Improving my Quidditch performance," she replied coolly.  She thought of adding that none of the players at the World Cup a week ago had had long hair, but she refrained, thinking silence was the better policy.

"Excuse me, Davies," she finally said, secretly pleased at his stricken look.  "I have to be in shape if we're to win the Quidditch Cup this year.  Good day."  With that, she took off, now dropping to the ground and spiraling up in an attempt to learn, or at least emulate, The Wronski Feint.

Roger watched her fly.  He couldn't help it.  The small figure in Muggle jeans and an expression of complete concentration on her face kept drawing his eyes.  How could she have cut it?  He didn't understand.  She had been by far the prettiest girl in the house-perhaps even in the school-with that long silky hair and those mysterious almond-shaped eyes.  Not that she wasn't pretty anymore.  Cho couldn't be unpretty if she tried.

He sighed, wondering whether to be angry at her for cutting her hair, angry at himself for caring, or angry at Cedric Diggory on a general principle.  Seething, he decided he had enough anger for all three, and made himself turn away and go back inside, not even noticing that he clutched a handful of hair from his birdbath in his shaking fist.

Cho noticed though, and tried to tell herself she was glad he was upset.  She had nothing to prove to Roger, but striking him speechless had been exceedingly satisfying.  She only wished she didn't feel like crying despite her bitter satisfaction.

She flew higher and higher, and the cool breeze cleared her mind somewhat. She looked back down at the two houses, tiny in the distance, one with quaint Oriental stone lions in the front, the other with a small white bird bath in its yard, and gave a shaky sigh. It had been almost half a year, this cold war between her and Roger. Ever since the Ravenclaw/Hufflepuff game last term. What had happened to that wonderful, hair-pulling boy who had bludgeoned a bully with his broomstick for her? How had everything gone so awfully wrong?


	2. Did You Ever Love Somebody

~*Everything You Want*~

Chapter Two: Did You Ever Love Somebody

Dove: Welcome back, wonderful readers! You would be even more wonderful if you reviewed sometimes. Yes, I'm talking to you. In this chapter, we explain Cho's relationship to Ced, people say some slightly un-PC things, and Roger spends the majority of his time sulking. Enjoy!

Thalia: And here we have more Roger/Cho fabulousness! So... _why did they go from friends to enemies, anyway? Read on and see!! Leave us a review telling us how wonderful we are when you're done!_

Disclaimer: We _still do not own any of the Quidditch hotties in this story, of either gender. It seems as though the people who created and propagated their existence do not want to give them up. As you're reading a Ravenclaw fic, you __should be smart enough to figure out just what we don't own, and also smart enough to not try suing us._

_"Did you ever lay your head down_

_On the shoulder of a good friend?_

_And then have to look away somehow_

_Had to hide the way you felt for them_

_Have you ever prayed the day would come?_

_You'd hear them say they feel it too_

_Did you ever love somebody?_

_Who never knew..."_

-Jessica Simpson, "Did You Ever Love Somebody"

Sitting on the Hogwarts express on the first day of her fourth year, Cho Chang was very excited.  The Seeker of the Ravenclaw team, by name of Edward West, had graduated the past year.  Cho had been the Reserve Seeker for Ravenclaw since her second year, thanks in part to her close friendship with Roger Davies.  Now that Edward was gone, however, moved on to the fascinating world of the Ministry of Magic, Cho was guaranteed the position.  Of course, considering that the only game she had played to date, her second year against Hufflepuff, had resulted in a concussion from a bludger, she probably shouldn't have been so irrationally eager.  She was, however, of the type that cheerfully overlooked problems if they didn't suit them, and was therefore having a wonderful time imagining her brilliant victory in the Quidditch Cup.

            Her mother had been particularly glad that her school was near home this year, for bad luck seemed to be pummeling the wizarding world lately.  First that mess with the Chamber of Secrets last year, and now the news full of an escaped convict named Sirius Black.  Cho, being the good little hard working Ravenclaw that she was, naturally knew who Sirius Black was, what he had done, and had her own theories on what he was after.  Her mother, however, having met Sirius at school, was particularly vicious when it came to the subject of the Azkaban escapee.  Apparently, she took him becoming a Death Eater very personally.

            "I'm surprised you haven't jumped out of your skin yet," commented Roger, who was lounging on the seat next to her, absently flipping through a textbook.  She spared him a glare when he tweaked her braid lightly.  "It's only Quidditch."

            Cho rolled her eyes.  "It's not 'only Quidditch' if we win the Cup this year, now is it?"

            Roger shrugged, still immersed in his book.  "The chances are very slim with Potter playing for Gryffindor," he said mildly.  "I'm only being realistic."

            Cho sighed deeply.  "Where's your sense of House pride?  Besides, I haven't gotten my chance to play yet."

            "I've seen you play," he pointed out.  "I spent my allowance sending flowers to the Hospital Wing for a week."

            Cho grimaced.  "Shut up, Roger."

"No, sorry." He grinned at her, not looking sorry at all, then sobered slightly, "What I really worry about, though, Cup or no Cup, is you. You know that both Wood and Flint are going to be gone next year, so both Gryffindor and Slytherin will be fiercely competitive for the Cup this year. I'm especially worried about Slytherin. Gryffindor, as much as they want to win, won't do anything nasty, but Slytherin might very well resort to any measures they deem necessary, up to and including deliberately putting rival Seekers in the hospital."

Cho smiled and patted his head in a patronizing manner, despite her being two years younger than him. "Thanks for your concern, Roger, but I'll be fine."

Humming gaily, Cho spent the rest of the train ride immersed in wonderful visions of Quidditch glory, of making a daring dive and capturing the snitch, the wind whistling through her hair, blue robes fluttering around her. Next to her, Roger's mind was full of thoughts of an entirely different vein.

His worries about Cho were genuine. From experience and observation, rival Seekers did tend to get clobbered around by other teams. He did not really worry about Oliver Wood and his bunch; they generally played fair, and besides, with Potter, they probably did not worry too much about Cho anyway, but the idea of the feisty, fey-like girl next to him being attacked and ambushed by the huge, brutal Slytherin team... Flint... Warrington... Bole... Derrick... Derrick had had a vendetta against both of them ever since he, Roger, had beaten him over the head with a broomstick so long ago, when they were kids.

He shuddered. Cho, sitting next to him, looked at him with concern shining in those gorgeous dark eyes, asking, "Everything all right?"

He did not answer, not knowing how to tell her that he was really, _really concerned about her, that he was thinking more about her than he was accustomed or ought to, and that right then, perched gracefully on her seat, legs stretched out casually, long hair glistening like polished ebony in the sunlight, she was the prettiest thing that he'd ever seen. Cho looked at him a moment longer, then shrugged and lazily closed her eyes, basking in the sunlight streaming through the open window of their train compartment. With her eyes closed, she did not see him staring at her, suddenly unable to look away._

Comfortable in the sunshine, Cho fell into a light sleep, unaware that Roger watched her sleep for an hour without getting bored in the least.  The sun set and still she dozed.

Then the train shuddered to a stop and the lights went out, and Cho's eyes popped open, as she was suddenly wide-awake and mildly frightened.  "What's going on?" she asked Roger.  "D'you think the train broke down?  It's never done that before."

"No," Roger said, sounding uncomfortable.  "This doesn't feel right… hold on… where are you?"  He found her hand and she let him hold it gratefully, for the darkness was all-encompassing, tangible, and frankly petrifying, though perhaps it was odd to be frightened of the dark at fourteen.

Then the door to the compartment slid open.  In the faint light coming from the hallway, Cho could make out a tall, hooded figure.  Suddenly, it was as though a block of ice grew in her stomach, and she was badly dizzy.  The feeling of Roger's hand squeezing hers faded away until all she felt was an unpleasant floating sensation, and all she heard was a shrill voice yelling in rapid Chinese.

Something had exploded in daycare that day.  She had gotten angry, and suddenly there was an explosion.  She had tried to explain about her magic, for at four years old, she was perfectly certain of the goodness and open-mindedness of all other people.  That lovely fiction was dispelled by the teacher's furied shout of "Xiao Yao Nu!" and the accompanying slap… the cruel laughter of the other children at their class freak...

She felt the pain again, and the humiliation, and the disappointment, and the horrible disillusioned feeling of a child being thrown rudely into reality.  She hated these intense feelings of helplessness, and she was all set to cry when she heard, through a haze, Roger's voice shouting _"Expecto Patronum!"_

Instantly, the haze cleared, she was holding one hand to her unmarred cheek, very near crying, and Roger, who was still holding her other hand, looked as though he was about to collapse from concentration.  A bright silver eagle hovered between them and the cloaked figure, which Cho now realized was a Dementor from the horror stories the Ravenclaw girls liked to tell before bed.  Roger looked livid, and the Dementor stood, silently watching them, or so it seemed, before the compartment door slid closed.  Roger put down his wand and took a deep, shaky breath.  Turning to Cho and noticing her one tear, he immediately brought up a hand in an absent gesture to wipe it off.  "Are you all right?"

Cho swallowed and nodded.  "Yeah… sorry… those things… books just can't…"

He nodded and, suddenly realizing he held her hand, patted it uncomfortably before putting both hands in his lap.  "I know," he said.  "It's all right.  Dementors bring out your worst memories; that's why Azkaban is such a horrid place. What did you remember, Cho? Must have been something awful, I've never seen you that close to tears before."

Cho swallowed and flushed, fidgeting uncomfortably. Now that the Dementor was gone, it seemed somewhat silly to be nearly crying over the memory. "Oh, just something that happened long ago. Say, Roger, what was that spell you used against it? I've never seen it before," she hurriedly changed the subject.

Roger gave her a strange look, but answered her question, and so the two of them finished the train ride with him telling her about Patroni and what they represented. However, he neglected to tell her that the happy memory that he had chosen for the spell, that had come to him without thought, was the memory of a boy of eight years old in a garden by a bird bath, tugging on the neat black braid of the sweet little girl who had just moved in next door.

"Hey there, Cho!" A cheery, warm tenor reached her ears as she and Roger walked into the school. Cho spun around, not noticing her companion stiffening almost imperceptibly beside her, and rushed towards a tall, handsome Hufflepuff boy sporting a Prefect badge on his robes.

"Cedric! I'm so glad to see you!" Cho giggled as her "other best friend" laughed and swung her into the air. Roger watched this entire exchange, and his face darkened, not that Cho noticed. She was too busy hobnobbing with the Hufflepuff.

"Say, that was a dreadful train ride, wasn't it?" Cedric said as he set the small Ravenclaw girl back on her feet, "Those Dementors are something awful. Reviving a bunch of horrible memories, I heard from the Gryffindor Head Boy, you know, Percy Weasley, that Harry Potter actually fell unconscious. Poor bloke, he must have remembered something horrifying, and a Gryffindor, too..."

So she was not the most severely affected one, after all. Feeling a bit better, she nodded, "I know! I remembered this one time when I was four..." Cho and Cedric moved out of earshot, and Roger stood, leaning against the wall, watching the two walk away with the rest of the entering students. A sense of desolation and not a little bit of resentment filled his heart, and he stalked away to the Great Hall, scowling.

The feast passed uneventfully, though Cho couldn't help but shudder when Dumbledore announced the fact that Dementors would be patrolling the school.  She thought that maybe she wouldn't go to Hogsmeade so often this year, after all.  The time could be best spent studying anyway.  She sat next to Roger, who was almost forcedly cheerful.  Every time she asked him what was wrong, though, he looked at her funny and said that it didn't really matter.  Finally, she gave up asking.

As soon as people began to drift out, she stood, making her excuses to her housemates, and headed across the entrance hall and up a few flights to the portrait guarding the Ravenclaw dormitory door.  "Wingardium Leviosa," she said, and stepped into the nearly-empty common room.  It was a good thing she had bothered Roger the Prefect for a password before leaving.

Many of the new first years had already come in, and although there were maybe five people there, it was noisy.  Cho settled down in her favorite spot-the window seat with a candle sconce set consideringly above it for late night studiers.  Every chair and table in the Ravenclaw wing was well-lighted, mainly because there was always at least one student working through the night.  Ced had told her that Hufflepuff was not like this at all, and there was actually such a thing as "quiet hours".  Cho had just laughed, unable to imagine a place were studying wasn't always top priority.

Now, sitting in the bay window which so conveniently overlooked the Quidditch pitch, she dreamed.  Her summer homework was done, unlike the group of frantic third-years, deathly afraid that they would have Potions in the morning, who were quickly scribbling essays in the corner.  Some things would never change.

There was a tap on the window.  She looked up lazily to behold a large barn owl.  Opening a square in the glass which had been made into a door for mail, Cho looked curiously at the owl, who dropped a scrap of parchment in her lap and flew away.  What could Cedric want this time of night?

She unfolded to see a quickly scrawled message:

_Meet me in the __Astronomy __Tower___

_Ced_

Shrugging, she stood up and headed back towards the portrait.  She supposed staying out late on her first night back wasn't entirely intelligent, but she and Cedric had a system in which the Astronomy Tower conferences only happened when one or the other desperately needed to talk privately.  Therefore, Cho was sure that Cedric had something to discuss with her that he had not been able to bring up earlier with people around.  Out the portrait hole and down the hall she went, accordingly.

Roger met her as he was returning to the dormitories with a few more first years and fellow Prefect Penelope.  "Where are you headed this late?" he asked, amused.

"The Astronomy Tower," she said immediately.  "Ced sent me an owl."

"What, first day of term?"

"Afraid so," she said.  Penelope looked mildly scandalized.  Flashing the group at large a grin, Cho called "See you!" as she headed down the hall.  Roger, watching her slender form disappearing down the hall, shimmering braid bouncing lightly as she walked, felt a scowl returning to his face. Suddenly, he felt someone nudge his arm, and turned to see the mildly amused face of Penelope Clearwater.

"She's sweet. Don't do anything to hurt her; you'll never get so lucky again," the other Prefect remarked before turning around and walking into the common room, leaving him standing there alone in the hallway, mouth agape.

Cho waved as she passed the Grey Lady on her way up the stairway to the Astronomy Tower. Cedric was already waiting there when she got to the top. Deciding not to waste any time on useless pleasantries with such a close friend, she went straight to the point and asked, "So Cedric, what do you want to tell me?"

Cedric smiled in a rather uncomfortable fashion.  "Perhaps you should sit down."

Cho looked pointedly around the Astronomy Tower, which was open to the sky and bare of any sort of place to sit.  Students even stood during class, except those brave enough to plop down on the floor.  After her eyes had finished the deliberate circle of the room, they stopped back on Cedric's face.  "In all the time we've been friends, Ced, I haven't seen you nervous enough to be stupid."

Cedric winced slightly.  "You're not making this easy, Cho."

"I know."  She smiled winningly.  "And?"

Cedric nearly squirmed under her gaze.  "It's just that I need to tell you something… _really important… and I'm not sure how you'll react."_

Cho walked up to him and placed a hand on each shoulder.  "Listen to me, Cedric.  There is nothing-_nothing­-in the world that you could say to make me think less of you.  So spit it out already, so that I can reassure you and we can both get some sleep.  All right?"_

Cedric looked down at her, appearing very unsure, took a very deep breath, and finally managed to say something.  "I think I'm gay."

Cho's eyes widened immensely and she looked at him with an olw-like countenance.  "You think you're… what?"

Cedric sighed, but patiently repeated his statement.  "Gay.  You know, as in not liking girls, as in liking boys, as in-"

"I know what it means."

"Well then, what am I being a dictionary for?" Cedric said, trying to hide his obvious fear of rejection by his closest friend, the only person he'd ever had the guts to tell his secret to. "Listen, if you don't want to talk to me anymore or something, I totally understand, and-"

Cho effectively cut him off by raising a hand and covering his mouth with it.  "Shut up," she said.  "You're being a prat.  Why would I not want to talk to you?  Because you're being honest with me?  Please, I hope you give me more credit than that."  Taking her hand from his lips so he could talk again, she placed it back on his shoulder.  "You're my best friend, Cedric Diggory," she said, her eyes boring into his, "and if we can gossip about boys together, well…" she shrugged, "that only makes you better.  So stop being a git.  All right?"

Relieved that he had not lost his best friend after all, Cedric warmly returned Cho's reassuring hug. The tension that had been pervading the atmosphere earlier disappeared, and the two talked of much lighter things, like how their summers had been, for the next hour.

By the time Cho got back to Ravenclaw Tower, it was midnight. As it was the first day of the term, and no new homework had been assigned yet, she did not expect anyone to still be up. Therefore, she was quite surprised when an irate Roger greeted her as soon as she stepped inside.

"Do you want to lose points for Ravenclaw on your first day back by breaking curfew?! What if one of the professors or Filch caught you? I can't believe Diggory kept you for so long! He's a bloody Prefect, he should know better!" Roger, her friend Roger, was actually _glowering at her. "What was so incredibly important that he had to keep you up there in the Astronomy Tower 'till midnight?"_

At his rebuke, Cho grew a little bit nettled, "Well, that's between him and me, and it's not really any of your business, Roger! I'm sorry if Your Mighty Prefectness is upset, but I'm back here now, I didn't get caught, and Ravenclaw didn't lose any points, so stop with the questions and scolding! Anyway, I'm going to bed. Good night!" And with that, she disappeared up the stairs to the girls' dormitories, leaving Roger to sit by the fire and sulk by himself.

Cho wasn't all that angry, really, though she _was confused.  Her late-night excursions had never angered Roger in the past, though they had been nearly nightly her second year, when she had been determined to find a way to get the house-elves to deliver to the common room at night, for there had been at least three students overworking themselves and forgetting to eat.  Roger had been not only accepting, but even approving in that case, and she didn't see how it could be so terribly different now._

Sighing, she opened the door to find that while two of her dormmates were asleep, Cassandra and Melissa were still awake, obviously gossiping.  As she closed the door behind her, Cassandra, curlers in her hair, turned to Cho with a sly grin.  "How is Cedric tonight?"

"He's fine," Cho answered without thinking of the implications of this.  She was very tired and wanted nothing more than to go to sleep.

"I _knew it!  Pay up, Melissa, I told you she was seeing him!"_

Cho looked up at them from where she had begun changing into her pajamas.  "What?  Seeing who?"

"Your boyfriend Diggory, silly.  It's not like we don't _know," Cassandra said with a sparkle in her eyes.  "Tell me, is he a good kisser?"_

Cho rolled her eyes.  "Oh please.  I've never kissed Ced."

Melissa squealed.  "She calls him Ced!  How _sweet!"_

Cho sighed.  "Since you obviously won't listen to a word I say regardless, I'm going to bed.  I suggest you do the same, as we have class in the morning, and I can almost bet it's Potions first."  Drawing her curtains around her as a sign she wished to e left alone, she yawned as she settled in between the warmed sheets. "Good night," she called softly.  "Go to bed, you ridiculous magpies," she added under her breath before drifting off to sleep.


	3. Don't Speak

~*Everything You Want*~

Chapter Three: Don't Speak

Thalia: And here we have more lovely, wonderful flashbacks to when our hero and heroine were still friends and not entirely lovelorn! In this chapter, we have ominous predictions made by an oversized arthropod, Quidditch, and an interrupted....? Anyway, enjoy, and _REVIEW!!!_

Dove: Trelawney pulls an evil portent on Roger, which shouldn't be too surprising, since his sign is the same as Harry's.  Roger then proceeds to have a conniption of gargantuan proportions at his other Beater, Cho calms him down somewhat, and Ced catches them in a slightly compromising position.  After all this, there are speculations that even Madam Pomfrey can't cure lovesickness…

Discalimer: I, Dove, will refrain from telling you what I would do to and with Draco Malfoy, were we the sole owners of Harry Potter.  As Draco does not yet cower at the sight of anything remotely resembling leather, we will assume we do not own it, simply for the sake of our fragile sanity…

_"You and me,_

_We used to be together,_

_Every day together,_

_Always.___

_I really feel that I'm losing my best friend._

_I can't believe this could be the end._

_It looks as thought you're letting go._

_And if it's real then I don't want to know..."_

-No Doubt, "Don't Speak"

Cho got up the next morning, bright and early. Efficiently putting books and parchments into her schoolbag, she started down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Roger was already there when she arrived, looking over his schedule as he munched on a piece of toast.

"Good morning, Roger!" she greeted, "What're your morning classes?"

"Advanced Charms, and then Divination." Roger replied, "You?"

"Potions, then Arithmancy... just as I thought!" Cho grimaced, blowing one of her bangs out of her face. "I _told Cassandra and them to go to bed instead of speculating over my supposed love life last night. The ninnies wouldn't even believe me when I told them that Cedric and I are __not dating! Blimey, can't they think of anything else besides bloody relationships?!"_

Perhaps the coffee he was drinking had started to take effect, or perhaps something else had happened, but Roger suddenly seemed more alive and alert after her statement. Giving her a wry grin and ruffling her still unbraided hair, he said, "Well, you know how those roommates of yours are. But I have to say that I'm glad you're not in a relationship with Diggory."

Cho turned sharply, "What's wrong with Cedric?"

"Nothing's wrong with him... just... er... I'm glad that you two weren't up in the Astronomy Tower 'till midnight last night... um... doing what most couples do up there. Unpleasant mental image, you know," he replied hastily.

Cho laughed and smacked his arm lightly, "Of course we weren't, silly! Cedric and I would never do such a thing!" That being said, she turned away from him and started to deftly plait her long black hair into a neat braid. Muttering Potions notes under her breath, she did not hear Roger give a sigh of relief.

Advanced Charms was a class comprised of ten students from all four Houses in sixth year.  There were two Slytherins, one Hufflepuff, three Gryffindors, and four Ravenclaws in the class this year, and Professor Flitwick didn't waste any time with pleasantries, instead starting right in with the lesson.  Roger spent the hour taking copious notes, for he had learned fifth year, when the advanced level classes had begun, that there were exams of some sort weekly, and they were incredibly difficult.

Therefore, it seemed like no time at all before he was heading up the many flights of stairs towards the Divination Tower.  He saw Harry Potter and his friends on the way down, as they had obviously had their first class with Trelawney this morning.  He only noticed because he had gotten into the habit of observing the players from the other Quidditch teams.  He grimaced however, as he got to the ladder that led to the classroom, for Diggory had just climbed up it, and Roger had done his best to forget he had class with him at all.

"Morning, Davies!" Cedric called cheerfully as Roger climbed into the classroom.  Cho's close friend and Quidditch captain did not look in the last friendly, however.

"Diggory," he nodded, before settling down in a seat as far away from him as possible and preparing to force himself out of boredom for an hour.

"Welcome to your continued exploration of means to predict the future." The misty, portentous voice signaled the arrival of Professor Trelawney, as usual draped in layers upon layers of shawls, scarves and chintzy jewelry. 

As she schooled her face into the tragic, quasi-omniscient expression that she most favored, Trelawney murmured, in a thrilling whisper, "We will be starting the year with some review. Doubtless over the summer, you must have forgotten some of the valuable and intriguing lessons learnt here, in my classroom... Hampton," addressing a 6th year Hufflepuff girl, "Be sure to watch out during your next Transfiguration class, lest you get into a dangerous accident." The girl winced briefly and nodded. Trelawney continued. 

"We shall begin by reviewing the horoscopes. As you know, we are now in the sign of Virgo..." Roger drowned it all out, his mind occupied with other, more interesting things, like how to make sure, when Quidditch season started, that Cho would not get hurt by the Slytherin team. Suddenly, he heard Trelawney calling his name, and snapped back to attention.

"Yes, Professor?" he asked, trying to look as though he had been paying attention.

"Am I correct in remembering that you are a Leo?" she asked.

"Uh… yes, Professor.  My birthday's the twenty-fourth of July."

Trelawney looked shocked and very, very sorry for him.  He was of the opinion she spent hours before the mirror, perfecting that look.  "You had best watch out, poor boy.  It is a bad season for Leos… you will be involved in a bad accident before the end of the month… you're a Beater, aren't you?"

"Er… yes," Roger said, wondering if he should be worried or dismiss this all as babble from the not-all-there professor.

"You want to be careful who those bludgers fly at, dear," she said.  "Someone will get badly hurt quite soon… Ravenclaw will lose the game, of course."

Roger seethed.  "Now Professor, that really isn't fair."

She shrugged.  "Why build your hopes up when I can tell you now?  Besides, I'd watch out for the smaller members of your team… some of them have had bludger problems before, as I recollect.  Now, Miss Lindley, you must be a Sagittarius…"

Roger wasn't particularly listening to Trelawney anymore, mainly because he was now in full blown "panic over Cho" mode.  She couldn't possibly be that accurate, not unless there was some truth to her words.  He was trying to think of the most tactful way to get Cho to relinquish her position to the alternate when Trelawney began speaking to Cedric, and he decided to pay attention.

"Ah yes, Pisces," she was saying.  "Venus is in your favor… you should be lucky in love this month, my dear… do take advantage of it, as the object of your affection will likely be badly injured in some way in the near future… take the time now, while you can…"  The coincidences just seemed to line up.

Now Roger was _sure he should worry._

Roger was still mulling over Trelawney's ominous words when class was finished and it was time for lunch. Sitting down at the Ravenclaw table, he looked down at his plateful of steaming chicken pot pie. Usually, he would have wasted no time with finishing his lunch, with Hogwarts' delectable cooking, but today, he seemed to have lost his appetite. This queasy feeling only increased when Cho plopped down next to him, throwing her bookbag down on the floor and tossing her braid over her shoulder.

"How were your classes?  Potions was horrible, as usual. I _still cannot comprehend the use of a draught that makes one's nose longer, but the overgrown bat of a Professor Snape decided to make us do it. Of course, there were twenty-five ingredients to go in, and any mistake would make the bloody cauldron explode. Thank goodness Professor Vector was in a benevolent mood today and decided to make it an easy Arithmancy lesson. If I had two classes like Potions early in the morning every day I might go crazy!" Cho ranted. "What about you? You had Charms and Divination, didn't you say? Isn't Ced in Divination with you? So tell me, what sort of rigmaroles did Trelawney come up with today in her 'Horrors of the Future and our Inevitable Doom'?"_

Roger gulped, but forced his voice to be nonchalant. "Er... nothing really. Just the usual doom-and-gloom in our horoscopes, that's all," he replied, then took out his large and immensely boring History of Magic textbook and buried his face in it, to avoid more questions on that particular issue.

Cho sighed as she began to purposefully load her plate with a fragrant stew in the middle of the table.  "Hey, Roger, when does Quidditch practice start?" she asked.  "Don't we need a new Chaser, too?"

"About Quidditch, Cho…" Roger mumbled.

"Yes?" she asked, somewhat confused.  "What about Quidditch?"

"Are you _sure you want to play?" he asked, almost desperately.  "You're taking the hardest subjects, and you need to study, and anyway, it's dangerous, and-"_

Cho interrupted him, hurt in her voice.  "Roger Davies, it sounds to me like you don't _want me on your team!"_

Under her piercing gaze, Roger squirmed.  "No!  I mean, yes, I want you on the team!  It's only… well… only that…"

"Yes?" she said, eyebrows still raised questioningly.

"Never mind," Roger said miserably.  "Practice starts next Wednesday."

***

Wednesday arrived all too soon, and that evening, an hour after a dinner that Roger didn't find the appetite to eat, he found himself and the rest of the team, Cho included, on the Quidditch pitch.

"Now, team, this is our first practice this term. We have a new Seeker this year," Roger began, indicating the confident, excited little Chinese girl by his side, Cleansweep in hand and grinning ear to ear. "Today, let's just run through our old drills, and show her the ropes, okay? Let's take it easy on Cho here…"

Before he could continue with this speech, Cho interrupted him, "Ah, don't worry about taking it easy on me. I want us to _win, so don't do anything different than usual. After we're done trying out new Chasers, show me a real game."_

Before Roger could say anything to protest her statements, she had already soared into the air. Well, if she was not going to... to listen to reason, then he, Roger Davies, would just have to make sure personally that nothing happened to her.

Fifteen minutes later, a fifth year by the name of Henry Vanderhoff was chosen to fill in the vacant Chaser position. Now, Quidditch practice would officially start. All seven players took position, and soon, the chasers were running through their drills and competing with the keeper as Game simulation began. Roger threw the enchanted golf ball that the teams used as a snitch substitute during practice into the air with a heavy heart, all the while watching the bludgers like a hawk, Beater club clutched so tight that his knuckles whitened.

About twenty minutes into the practice, Cho caught sight of the "Snitch" and went into a dive. Hair flapping in the breeze, a look of single-minded focus on her face, she did not notice the bludger that Gordon Brocklehurst pelted her way. But Roger did. Zooming forward, he hit the bludger back towards Brocklehurst with such force that the other Beater nearly tumbled off his broom when it caught him in the midsection. A moment later, Cho's triumphant, bell-like call of "I've got the Snitch!" rang out through the field.

Everyone landed, and Cho proudly offered the golf ball to Roger.  Roger, however, wasn't paying much attention.  "What, pray tell, did you think you were _doing, Brocklehurst?"_

The seventh-year boy shrank before his livid captain, despite being the elder.  "Er… what you told me to, Captain… in practice, we simulate a game.  If we see the Seeker going down for the Snitch, we stop her at any cost."  After a few moments of tense silence, he added "Sir."

"Brocklehurst?"

"Yes, Captain?"

"You are an _idiot!!!"_

And, in front of his incredulous teammates, Roger proceeded to berate Gordon loudly and sometimes rather vulgar terms.  He had obviously lost his temper completely.

"Wow…" Robin Harrison said, obviously having never seen Roger this furious.  He was the last of the reserve Chasers to be moved up to the actual team as a seventh year.  "He's really lost it."  He was well used to Roger's temper, having been a reserve since his third year, but in his experience, Roger's temper was never so bad as when dealing with something that might concern Cho.

"Er… Roger?" Cho ventured.

_"How dare you send it at her!?__  What kind of idiot-"_

"Roger!  I'm really all right!"

_"What if she'd been hurt!?__  I'd have to KILL you then-"_

"Roger!" Cho finally shouted.  "For Merlin's sake, calm _down!"_

Roger, eyes wild, turned to her.  "Are you all right?  No injury?  No problems at all?"

"Roger… you're acting strange," she said, looking at him oddly.  "It was just a bludger.  I've taken one to the head before."

He sighed.  "I know, only…"

Cho looked affectionately at her friend and captain. He was just being the concerned friend that he always was, and worried about her, and she would show him that there was nothing to worry about. Taking his hand in one of hers, she did a graceful little pirouette. "See, Roger? No bruises, no injuries, limbs and muscles all still in functioning order. Stop worrying so much about me. Besides, I was going too fast for that bludger to hit me anyway."

The rest of the team grinned when Roger's expression slowly returned to normal. "All right, if you say so, Cho. I just want to make sure that you don't get yourself injured again on the pitch. Team, dismissed."

The rest of the team walked off, to put away their brooms and equipment, then to return to Ravenclaw Tower. Roger and Cho walked slowly back towards the castle together. Cho gave him a sidelong glance. "So, tell me seriously, what has gotten you so worried all of the sudden?"

Roger took a moment before finding the right words. "Well, Cho, you're one of my closest friends, and I don't ever want to see you hurt." Trying to lighten his tone a little bit, he added half-jokingly, "Besides, I don't want to get any Howlers from either of our mothers demanding to know why I didn't watch out for you."

Cho laughed, "If that happened, I would send one right back to them telling them to sod off and quit bothering us."

At her impish expression and audacious declaration, Roger was forced to laugh. Ruffling her hair with one hand, he chuckled, "Chang, you're incorrigible!"

Cho smacked his hand away, feeling the top of her head and finding that what had been a neat braid was now close to a bird's nest. Putting on her best mock glare, she shook one slender finger at Roger. "Davies! You great prat! Look at what you did to my hair! I must look like a bloody scarecrow!"

"That would be interesting, Chang... you as a scarecrow? A bit of a stretch..." Roger found that his earlier gloom had disappeared like snow in the springtime. Grinning, he reached out and mussed up her hair even further. "Hmm… there we are… now that's a bit more like a scarecrow." 

Eyes blazing with indignation, she lunged at him, managing to unbalance him for a brief moment. But Roger was, after all, two years older than her, a head taller, and probably outweighed her by fifty pounds, and within moments, she found herself lying on the ground, her hair now entirely out of its braid and fanning out messily around her, with him tickling her and causing her to shriek with laughter. "All right! All right! I surrender!" she squealed, face flushed and voice breathless from laughter. Roger gave her a deep, seeking look. 

"Do you now, Chang?" The sun had set by then, the stars were slowly becoming visible in the sky. She was lying on the ground, in slightly rumpled Quidditch robes, face flushed a dusky rose, delicate lips parted. Her loose hair flowed about her, down to her waist, long and wild and silky. Her eyes looked up into his, limpid and dark as pools of sweet hazelnut coffee. She was so beautiful. Slowly, tentatively, he brushed her soft cheek with the back of one hand...

"Hello there, Cho! Evening, Davies." If Cedric Diggory found anything unusual about the two Ravenclaws' positions, or the look of frustrated annoyance that Roger Davies shot at him, there was no indication of it as he greeted the both of them jovially.

"Hello, Ced!" Cho got to her feet, smiling at her Hufflepuff friend. "What are you doing out so late?"

"Oh, Professor Sprout wanted me to help her harvest some roots of Japanese blood grass for Herbology." Cedric answered easily, indicating the soiled gardening gloves he held in one hand. "I'm assuming that you two just finished Quidditch practice?"

"Of course! Two Galleons and a sugar quill that I win the match between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff!" Cho said playfully.

"You're on!" Cedric shook her outstretched hand, "Seriously, though, I believe that you'll be an excellent Seeker! You've just the right build for it, and you're fast and agile. You'll do great!"

"Thanks, Cedric! You're so sweet!" Cho replied. Roger balked at this exchange, though neither Cedric nor Cho noticed. What right did Diggory have to comment on her body like she was a piece of meat?

"Cho, we have to get back to Ravenclaw Tower," he said abruptly, "Good evening, Diggory," he addressed the other boy coolly. Cho waved at the Hufflepuff prefect before following Roger into the castle. Cedric stared after the two Ravenclaws for a moment, a thoughtful look crossing his face, before he, too, returned to the castle and headed towards the Hufflepuff Common Room.

Cho seemed unaware of the tension between the two boys. "Ced told me he was playing Seeker too, this year. It will be interesting competing with someone so close to me..." she shrugged, and finally noticed the slightly moody expression on Roger's face. "Hey, are you all right?""

"Fine," he quickly reassured her. "Just fine. Really." 

"You've been acting strange," she mused. "Are you sure you aren't sick? Maybe you should go see Madam Pomfrey."

Roger chuckled under his breath. "I'm afraid Madam Pomfrey can't cure this." 

"Can't cute what?" Cho asked interestedly as they walked into the castle and headed across the hall. 

"Oh... just... she can't cure someone who isn't ill, now can she?" Roger quickly improvised, wondering when he would learn not to think aloud. 

"No, I suppose not." They headed up the stairs and Cho said, "Aquila," to the portrait, naming the Latin word for eagle. It swung open and they headed inside. "Well... I've got a Transfiguration essay to do, and I really need to study for Ancient Runes tomorrow, so I had best get to my books," she said. "Practice was... something." 

Roger looked a bit abashed. "I went a bit overboard, didn't I?" 

"Just a bit," she laughed. "I really have to go now. Homework calls. Good night, Roger."

"Good night."

***

In upcoming practices, Roger did manage to not let his concern for her or his temper get the best of him. There were no more tirades at Brocklehurst, for which the other Beater was very thankful. However, the rest of the team seemed to have learnt their lesson, and there were no more bludgers deliberately pelted at Cho. She was doing quite well, much to everyone's delight, and had a head for tactics and a penchant for aerial acrobatics which would force the Seeker on the other team to swerve about, distracting him from looking for the Snitch, and give their team opportunity to score as many points as possible. She truly was becoming a credit to the team, and though Roger still conscientiously made sure that she was kept safe during practices, he was slightly less worried than before. For a slip of a girl riding a Cleansweep, she really _was quite fast._

Things seemed to be looking up for Roger. Quidditch and classes were all going well, though Trelawney still gazed at him with that tragic expression and maintained that dreadful things were in store for his future, none of it was any worse than the things she said to anyone else. Cho was still quite healthy and happy, from the looks of it, and often spent evenings studying together with him. Gradually, Roger was even able to look at and greet Cedric Diggory without an accompanying feeling of intense dislike and distrust.

Of course, as always, things were too good to last.


	4. Crush

~*Everything You Want*~

Chapter Four: Crush

Dove: Yay!  The ficcy that is coming out faster than is humanly possible!  In this chapter, Roger sulks, jumps to conclusions, and shows signs of being a Seer, no matter how much Trelawney tries to ruin any student's chances at being good in Divination.  There's fluff far too early for it to be any good, but we save it.  Furthermore, we have great fun with the first night Sirius broke into Hogwarts, and Cho is still adorably clueless about the entire thing.  Good luck getting this convoluted mess straightened out.

Thalia: Oh! Oh! We also have signs that someday, Cho will make an excellent mommy~.^!!  And Roger has a lovely not-so-little epiphany that causes him to nearly require the Heimlich, or its magical equivalent!! Now, with all these fantablous things in _ONE CHAPTER, we deserve a lot of happy reviews, don't we?!_

Disclaimer: If we owned these characters, Roger would be living with us and walking around wearing nothing but a loincloth. Obviously, this is not the case. This should be conclusive evidence that we do not own him, or any other characters from the Harry Potter world.

_"In this moment it feels so right_

_Lovely lady_

_I am at your feet_

_God I want you so badly_

_I wonder this_

_Could tomorrow be_

_So wondrous as you there sleeping?"_

-Dave Matthews Band, "Crush"

Halloween was the first Hogsmeade weekend.  Cho, for reasons decided back on the train, resolutely refused to go when Roger asked her.  He seemed rather put out until he heard her refusing Cedric as well, saying she would really much rather finish the Ancient Runes translation early, and would Ced please bring her some candy back?  After that, Roger cheered up and went by himself.

            The visits to Hogsmeade were quite nice, though he had to constantly watch everything he did, for every person in the small wizarding settlement knew his name, and he had the bad luck into running into his mother, Cho's, or both, every time he was thinking of doing something that he perhaps shouldn't.  Therefore, he didn't even bother going near Zonko's, spending the majority of his time in the small Quidditch shop, looking over new broomsticks and buying a new book on tactics.

            Glancing into Honeydukes on his way back, he saw Cedric paying for a pile of sweets.  He quickly grabbed an armful of chocolate frog boxes and plopped them down on the counter, replying very absently when Cedric said hello.  Cho was very fond of chocolate-it would be nice to give her a bit, especially since Honeydukes' was by far the best.  In the summer, the two of them would often spend half their spending money in the store, despite Mrs. Chang warning Cho sternly not to get fat.

When it was time to leave Hogsmeade, due to some quirk of fate, Roger found himself sitting in the same carriage as Cedric Diggory. The Hufflepuff Quidditch Captain looked carefree and content, and did not seem to notice the wary looks that his Ravenclaw counterpart sent his way. The ride was fairly quiet, Diggory tried to make casual conversation, to which Roger gave cool monosyllabic replies. When they reached Hogwarts, Roger was about to turn towards the direction of Ravenclaw Tower when Cedric stopped him with a hand on his arm.

"Say, Davies, I've got a Potions essay to finish for Monday. Could you bring these to Cho for me?" He thrust a bag of sweets into Roger's hands. "Thanks, mate." With that, Diggory gave Roger a smile, waved and headed down the hall towards Hufflepuff.

Rolling his eyes, Roger, now laden with two bags of candy, continued on his way towards Ravenclaw Tower. Reaching the portrait, he called out "Rowena's Aviary", then walked in.

Cho was sitting at a table, Rune dictionary open, absently chewing her lower lip as she wrote the finishing paragraph of her translation. Seeing Roger, she smiled and cleared off the surface of the table, beckoning him to come and sit with her, and tell her about his visit "back home". He walked up to her and up-ended both bags of candy onto the table. Cho's eyes bulged.

"Crimony! You and Cedric didn't have to get me _this much candy! My mother would have a fit if she knew, she'd say that I would rot my teeth and ruin my figure!"_

Roger chuckled, "Well, I'm sure you can finish it all eventually, and since you _are playing Quidditch, I doubt that you'll ruin your figure." Cho smiled at him, then got up and gave him am impulsive hug._

"Thanks, Roger. You and Cedric are both so nice to me. I'm so glad that I have you two." Roger returned her hug, and reflected that the whole thing would have been so much better had she _not mentioned Diggory's name._

"Are you going to come down to the feast?" Roger asked, settling down over the rune translation he himself had also had to do two years ago.  "It's starting in a few minutes, and I'd bet you would be upset if you missed out on all the pies I saw in the kitchen last night."

Instantly, Cho was riveted.  "There's pie?" she asked.

Roger answered in the affirmative.  "Yes, there's pie."

She was out the door faster than he could blink.

***

            The feast went off spectacularly.  The ghosts provided entertainment and the whole school stayed up far later than they were accustomed.  When the first years began to yawn and their heads began to nod, Roger, Penelope, and the other Prefects quickly gathered all of them up, shooing them off to bed.

            Cho had actually managed to get halfway changed, thinking of nothing more than a long, relaxing sleep, when suddenly there was a call from downstairs which sounded suspiciously like Professor Flitwick.  "Ravenclaw!  All Ravenclaws downstairs please!"

            Cho quickly threw a dressing gown over her nightshirt and, completely bewildered, descended the stairs behind Melissa and Cassandra, who were talking in hushed voices about whether a troll could have gotten into the castle again, or whether it was a vampire or something even more ghastly this time.

            It turned out to be worse.

            "Sirius Black has infiltrated the school," Flitwick began.  It took him a moment to calm the ensuing clamor, for most of the younger girls were suddenly hysterical, and the older students were obviously fighting to keep calm.  "He slashed the portrait guarding the Gryffindor common to ribbons when she wouldn't let him enter.  Obviously, we are all very concerned for the safety of the students.  We wish to search the castle to ascertain that Black is no longer among us."

The tiny professor looked positively grim.  Everyone was whispering, obviously very frightened.

"Grab anything you need and follow me down to the Great Hall," the professor instructed.  "You will be spending the night there tonight… you have five minutes before we leave."

Cho caught up with Roger, who was trying his best to calm a bunch of hysterical first-years and get them down to the Great Hall. "Roger, do you need any help?" she asked.

"Is it true that Sirius Black blew up a town and murdered fifty people with one single curse?!" a wide-eyed girl whispered, her face pale with fright. "And he's in this _school?! I don't want to go down... no..." she resisted Roger's coaxing and orders._

Cho walked up to the younger girl and squatted down, so that the two of them were eye-to-eye. "Look, if Sirius Black slashed the Gryffindor portrait, he could very well slash ours as well. And the rest of us are going down. Do you _really want to stay up here alone?" Digging into a pocket of her dressing gown and finding a Chocolate Frog card, she handed it to the younger student. "Here, that's a good girl. Now go and follow Roger; he's smart and brave and knows what he's doing, okay?" The girl nodded, and soon the first years obediently filed after Roger out of Ravenclaw Tower. He gave her a grateful look._

"How do _you know how to make those children behave? __I'm the Prefect here." He said. She shrugged, then grinned cheekily at him._

"I'm a woman. Or haven't you noticed?" Saying so, she, too, followed the rest of the Ravenclaws out of their tower and headed towards the Great Hall. Roger, staring at her back, chuckled wryly to himself.

"Yes, I've noticed. You have no _idea how I've noticed."_

After a moment of looking after her retreating form, conflicting emotions on his face, Roger led the Ravenclaws into the Great Hall.  Other students were milling around, some still in robes, others in nightclothes.  One scared-looking Hufflepuff first year was clutching a teddy bear.  It was certainly a good thing the tables had been moved, for there was far more room to stand around this way.  Roger found Cho in the crowd.  "I wonder where we're going to sleep?"

She shrugged.  "Dunno.  The floor, apparently.  I hope some of our fragile little girl types don't catch cold…"

Just then, Dumbledore began to speak.  "The teachers and I need to conduct a thorough search of the castle," he explained.  Professor Flitwick and Professor McGonagall were shooing the stragglers in before shutting the doors to the Hall.  "I'm afraid that, for your own safety, you will have to spend the night here.  I want the Prefects to stand guard over the entrances to the hall and I am leaving the Head Boy and Girl in charge."  He smiled slightly at Percy Weasley and Patricia Villarreal, the Slytherin that had been named Head Girl.  "Any disturbance should be reported to me immediately.  Send word with one of the ghosts."

Cho sighed heavily.  "Looks like it's the floor for us," she muttered.  "Wonder if I could get someone to cuddle with for warmth?  Cassandra's little group doesn't look too pleasant."  Roger blushed very red, glad she wasn't looking his way.  "Perhaps I'll ask Penelope," Cho decided.

Just then, Dumbledore turned back to them and looked over them mildly.  "Oh yes, you'll be needing…" he waved his wand arm absently and soft, comfortable-looking sleeping bags appeared all over the floor.  There was a general sigh of relief.  "Sleep well."

Then, the professors were gone, and Percy was doing what he did best-being bossy.  "Everyone into their sleeping bags!"  He glared at a sixth year Slytherin couple who seemed to think this was an ideal time for showing their _deep affection for each other, oblivious to the world.  "Come on, now, no more talking!  Lights out in ten minutes!"_

"Spoilsport," grumbled Cho.

"I hope they don't collect homework tomorrow," Mandy Brocklehurst worried.

"I'll talk to Professor Flitwik," assured Roger.  "Sleep well."

"Good night, Roger," Cho said.  "Hopefully they don't make you stay awake the entire time…" She found a corner as yet unoccupied, rather amused and yet gratified when first year Ravenclaw girls crowded around her.

Crawling into her sleeping bag, Cho took about two minutes to unbraid her hair, then gave Roger one last wave, stifling a yawn, shut her eyes, and went to sleep. He stood at his station, waiting for the professors to return from their search and tell them what was going on, well aware that it might be a very long wait. Not that he minded, of course. Cho lay sleeping about ten feet away from where he was stationed, curled up peacefully in her sleeping bag, long lashes resting against rosy cheeks. And for not the first time, Roger reflected that his Seeker friend was quite alarmingly beautiful. Well, if he had to stay up all night, so be it. There were far more unpleasant things he could have been doing besides watching her sleep.

He lost track of time as he stood there at the door, eyes glued on the slight, slender form of the Oriental girl slumbering close by. He wondered to himself when it had changed. When had Cho ceased being the funny little girl next door whom he played with, and become a lovely young woman whom... He shut his eyes for a brief second. No, she had not changed. She was still the same as always. A bit older, perhaps, but that was all. _He was the one who had changed, changed how he saw her. However, there was a problem with this alteration. __He had changed how he viewed her, but she still thought of him as nothing but a chum, almost like a brother. And he certainly did not view her as a surrogate little sister any more. Oh well, as long as she did not view anyone else in a non-platonic manner, there would always be hope. Someday, perhaps...someday. Thinking of this, Roger smiled slightly._

"She looks so peaceful and sweet sleeping, doesn't she?" An unwelcome voice intruded into his thoughts and Roger snapped back into reality. Harsh reality, in the form of Cedric Diggory, who had walked over to where he was standing, and, to his annoyance, joined him in the highly private and personal activity of Cho-watching.

"I don't think that you should make such comments about how she looks when she's sleeping, Diggory." Roger's disapproving voice took on an uncanny likeness to that of Percy Weasley, with a forbidding frown to match.  "In fact, you have no need to worry about how she looks sleeping at all, at least not for years yet," he couldn't help adding caustically.  "She's not like that."

Cedric looked very taken aback.  "I would never imply she was, Davies," Cedric said at long last.  "Listen, I'm pretty sure you have the wrong idea about me."

"Oh, I've got your number, Diggory," Roger hissed, doing his best not to raise his voice and wake the sleeping students.  "I've got you down.  But you can't _have her, at least not without a fight."_

Cedric looked scandalized.  "Davies, really!  Hear me out, please!"

Roger shrugged and turned pointedly from him.  "I don't need to hear anything.  You can say whatever you like, but I know what's going on.  You can just stay away from her, Diggory."

Cedric's voice had grown cold.  "I think it's Cho's choice who she associates with, Davies.  Now, if you'll excuse me, I see a potential situation."  He walked away, joining Percy in once again separating the incorrigible Slytherins.

"Bloody git," Roger murmured under his breath, watching him walk away.  "As if I didn't _know."_

Roger, now alone again, resumed his previous activity of Cho-watching. However, this was different. No longer watching and admiring her, but watching her, almost as if to make sure that she did not vanish, did not slip away from him. He was watching her so intensely that he did not notice Cedric Diggory's eyes on him, a wry but sympathetic expression on the Hufflepuff Prefect's face. However, when the doors to the Great Hall opened once more, he tore his eyes away from the sleeping Chinese girl to see the teachers standing in the doorway.

Sirius Black had not been caught. However, after a thorough search of the school, it was ascertained that he was not within the premises. So, the Prefects could now go to sleep as well, and they would deal with everything in the morning. Silently, Roger crawled into his own sleeping bag and closed his eyes, his mind still full of thoughts of Cho.

***

            He had finished his Prefect rounds for the night, so now, Roger headed back to his common room. It was quite late, for Prefect rounds lasted 'till 1:30 am. Usually, when he returned from them, there would not be anyone still up, unless it was time for final exams. Therefore, he was quite astonished to see Cho still awake, her face buried in a copy of _Advanced Calcular Numerica. A slight frown between her brows, she didn't even notice his entrance. He sat down in front of the fire, and watched as she wrestled with the complex Arithmancy assignment she was doing. Hmm... he had taken Arithmancy too, since third year, but never recalled doing something this complex until well into his fifth year._

            "Aarrgh! This is so bloody irritating! _What is the Integral Geomancy Principle?!" Cho stood up, throwing her book onto the table in exasperation. Suddenly, she caught sight of Roger, sitting there, watching her with an amused expression on his face. "Roger! Just the person I wanted to see! Professor Vector assigned an extra credit research assignment, and this is just going nowhere!"_

            Roger stood up as well, walking over to her table. "Well, I'm not surprised you're having trouble over it, Cho. It's a year over your level, even though you're in the accelerated class. That's why reading the fifth year textbook won't do anything for you, because you've never covered the stuff before." Cho sighed, then nodded. Picking up her books and parchments, she moved them over to where he had been sitting earlier, and plopped down on the blue velvet couch.

            "Well, could you explain it to me, then?" she asked softly. Roger smiled and nodded, then proceeded to teach her the rudiments of her assignment topic. Cho was a quick learner, and in half an hour's time, her assignment was completed. Triumphantly putting away her books, she stood up, then offered a hand to Roger to pull him up as well. The fire was now burning low, as the two of them stood before it. Cho was smiling sweetly at him.

            "Thank you, Roger. You're the best!" She reached up to give him a hug, then stood on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek. Somehow, unintentionally, he turned his head slightly, and her kiss fell upon his lips instead. However, to his delight, she did not pull away, but threw her arms around his neck and continued to kiss him, lips soft and sweet as cherries.

When they finally parted for breath, he stroked her hair gently, and whispered, "I love you." She smiled, and stood on her toes to kiss him again.

Roger brought his hand up to run through her hair.  He loved her hair, so silky and long and-

Wait a minute.

Cho's hair was short.

He looked at her, eyes wide.  "Cho?"

She smiled at him gently and said, "Wake up, Roger."

And suddenly, Roger's eyes shop open, and he was looking up into Cho's amused gaze.  He had slept on the floor.  In the Great Hall.  In a purple sleeping bag.  Had it all been… a dream?   "Wake up before they trample you setting up for breakfast," Cho advised.  "They've canceled morning lessons.  Are you getting up?"

Roger realized Cho was leaning over him, her hair a long black curtain around them.  It was long, and in the dream it had been short.  But he could still taste her… "Er… yeah.  Sure, Cho, I'll get up.  Get off of me?"

She grinned.  "I should tickle you to death first.  You were talking in your sleep, you know."

Roger paled.  "Oh?" he asked weakly.

She shrugged.  "It was too faint to make out.  I'm very exasperated."

What a relief, Roger thought.  Out loud he voiced a completely different thought.  "It's hard to remember dreams."

Roger was extremely taciturn during breakfast, eating his pancakes without a sound. He looked like his mind was far away. Cho looked at him, seated across from her, then at Cedric one table away, and saw that both of them were looking at her with strange expressions on their faces. Bemused, she figured that they were still rather tired from having to stay awake and watch over the other students for goodness only knew how long last night. She smiled, thinking of the two boys hovering over them protectively. Caring Roger, sweet Cedric. Two whom she would trust with her life, and whose trust she had as well. She was a lucky girl, to be friends with these two.

Roger, for once, did not even notice her smiling at him. He was too busy remembering the last part of that dream, as it ran through his head over and over again. Him kissing Cho, holding her in his arms, telling her that he loved her... wait! He loved her?! _He loved her?!  The piece of pancake that he had been absentmindedly forking into his mouth got stuck in his throat, and he started choking. Cho stood up at once, leaning over the table and clapping a small hand on his back. "All right there, Roger?"_

He finally managed to force down the morsel of food, and looked at her, blue eyes wide. "I'm... just fine." He replied in a strangled sort of voice.

"Oh, okay, just making sure. Say, could you help me with my Arithmancy assignment today? I've been working on it for ages, and the book tells me _nothing! What the devil __is the bloody Integral Geomancy Principle, anyway?"_

There was only one thought in Roger's mind.  "Oh _God."_


	5. Last Beautiful Girl

~*Everything You Want*~

Chapter Five: Last Beautiful Girl

Dove: Hoorah!  We're back again!  Oh, the angst!  The glorious, glorious angst!!!  Poor Roger… I'm surprised he hasn't attempted suicide yet, since everything's not going his way!  In this chapter, Hufflepuff plays Gryffindor, Cedric gets a crush, and Roger decides to show some Gryffindor traits and jump to conclusions…

Thalia: LOL... come on people... you knew that the fluff wasn't going to last. I was starting to get disgusted with myself after writing that dream sequence last chapter, so there is certainly no nights filled with lovely dreams here! But read and review anyway, or else you'll never be able to see the fluff-tacular ending we've planned! _READ NOW!!!_

Disclaimer: They aren't ours… because if Roger _were ours, we'd have him on anti-depressants by now.  And something to cure high blood pressure.  Because he needs to simmer down._

_"It won't be the first heart that you break _

_It won't be the last beautiful girl _

_The one that you wrecked won't take you back _

_If you were the last beautiful girl in the world _

_Tell me one more time _

_How you're sorry about the way this all went down _

_You needed to find your space _

_You needed to still be friends _

_Needed me to _

_Call you if I ever couldn't keep it all together _

_You'd comfort me _

_Tell me bout forever _

_And the promises I never should've believed…"_

-Matchbox 20, "Last Beautiful Girl"

Roger Davies sat at his favorite spot in front of the fireplace in the Ravenclaw Common Room, _A__ Guide to Elemental Transfiguration, Secondary Level by Casca Modifius open in his lap. However, at the moment, his mind was nowhere near his homework._

            The need to tell Cho about how he felt for her was now reaching a level where it was literally consuming him. He had tried to act and think of her as he used to, to no avail. Ever since that fateful Halloween night, all he could think of whenever he saw her was _I love you... I love you... I love you. These feelings accumulated inside him, growing ever stronger with time. He had to tell her... just so he would not burst. But... how?_

            He did not want her to become uncomfortable with him, or to throw his heart back in his face, or worse, to pity him and go to Diggory and tell the bloody Hufflepuff how awful she felt that he, Roger, liked her, but she had no idea what to do about it.

            Occupied with these conflicting thoughts, Roger didn't even notice when Cho walked over to read over his shoulder.  After a few moments, she vaulted over the back of the couch and ruffled Roger's hair, surprised when he blushed faintly.  "Hey Roger, you hungry?" she asked.

            "No thanks," he said, trying to keep his concentration of McGonagall's insanely difficult assignment.  "Gotta get this done."

            Cho shrugged, opened the book she had been carrying and began reading up on Astronomy halfheartedly, chatting with Roger the entire time.  This ability to talk and read at the same time was something most Ravenclaws developed after a while.  "I was going to run down to the kitchens and see if I could get some pie."

            "You and your pie," he said noncommittally.

            "My pie is my best friend," she said placidly.  "Ced's already learned not to compete with it."

            Roger counted to ten under his breath before talking again, for any mention of Diggory now brought him to unexpected fury.  "Are you planning on all night?" he asked, schooling his face to calm.  "A lot of homework?"

            "No more than usual," she said.  "Gryffindor plays Hufflepuff tomorrow, though.  There might not be a chance to finish my weekend work any other time."  She stretched languidly before resuming her reading.  "Think Gryffindor'll win?"

            "I'm sure of it, actually.  With a Seeker like Potter… well, Hufflepuff's no competition."

            "I don't know, Ced's pretty good," she disagreed.  "It's drizzling outside.  I bet it rains tomorrow.  Potter's small enough to possibly get blown off course."

            "Maybe," Roger shrugged.

            Cho turned a page in her book and they read in silence for a while, though Roger was very aware of her proximity.  Suddenly, she jumped up.  "I think I'm going to go get pie.  See you in a few minutes, Roger."  With that, she left the Common Room, obviously quite accustomed to after-hours jaunts.

            "Have you ever got it bad," Robin Harrison proclaimed, plopping down where Cho had just sat.  "You'd think a smart girl like that would notice."  Robin continued, "Well, I have to say that you have good taste, mate. She's smart, she's a spanking good Seeker, and quite pretty. Can't blame you in the least for being smitten, Davies."

            Roger briefly wondered if the Sorting Hat had made a mistake in placing Robin in Ravenclaw House. He had the sort of almost-masochistic courageous insanity that generally characterized Gryffindor House. "Desist in talking of this topic at once, Harrison." His voice was deceptively bland, but Robin Harrison knew better. Giving his captain a small smirk, he walked off to challenge Penelope in a chess game.

            Soon, Cho re-entered the common room, a smile on her face and a platter with no less than three steaming, fragrant pies in her hands. A few first-year girls, all of whom had idolized their house's Seeker ever since the incident of Sirius Black's break-in on Halloween, immediately clustered around them. Soon, one pie had been nearly decimated, and Cho had not taken a bite of it. Shrugging and grinning wryly, she accepted the thanks of the first-years, then said, "All right, then. Save some for me. And Glenda, don't take that last piece of the strawberry pie, you've already had a piece. Go and give it to Roger, it's his favorite."

            Roger, pretending not to watch, was charmed by Cho's easy, matronly manner with the younger girls.  Glenda walked up to him, blushing, and proffered a plate.  "Here… Mister Davies, sir…" Apparently she was in awe of him.  "Cho… wanted you to have some pie…"

            Roger grinned, quite unaware that her heart was now beating a hundred miles an hour.  He seemed quite oblivious to the fact that he was the best looking boy in the house.  "Thanks," he said easily.  Then he called over the couch back, "You're determined to make me eat, aren't you, Cho?  Is this a backhanded tactic to make me fat and slow and let Gryffindor win our next game?  Who's paying you, Chang?"

            "I refuse to answer that on the grounds that it may incriminate me," she answered after sticking her tongue out at him.  "Eat your pie and do your Transfiguration, Davies.  I have Potions to mull through."

            Everyone laughed, and there was a lighthearted attitude in the common room all through the night.  Cho really did only fall asleep for about an hour at dawn, on the couch, her head comfortably cradled in Roger's lap, Potions textbook falling out of her hand to lay on the floor.  He found it very hard to concentrate, and the first year girls whispered about Cho's brilliant luck behind their dormitory door in dramatic hushed voices.

            The morning of the Gryffindor/Hufflepuff game dawned barely at all, wind, splashing rain, and crackling lightning having raged most of the night.  Cho awoke with a particularly loud crash of thunder and jumped up to see that she had been sleeping in Roger's lap, and he had a very strange expression on his face.  "Er… sorry Roger," she said sheepishly.  "I bet that was uncomfortable."  Another thunderclap sounded.  "Are they really going to play in _that?" Cho asked, sitting up and re-plaiting her hair._

            "You better believe it," said Roger.

            "I hope Cedric is all right," Cho said, worry creasing her face.  "Perhaps I should go down to breakfast before he goes to change and see him before the game.  See you, Roger!"  Pulling her uniform hat on and straightening her rumpled robes, she left the common room, and a suddenly upset Roger, behind.

            Roger entered the Great Hall just as Cho was wrapping up her conversation with Cedric Diggory. He looked from Cho's easygoing smile to Diggory's nervous, appreciative face, and then, saw her giving the Hufflepuff a friendly hug. His face darkened, and at that moment, he made a decision. No more delay-he needed to tell her. She and that Hufflepuff were way too close as it was. Everything else be damned, she would have to know tonight.

            Cho made her way from the Hufflepuff table to her own and sat down next to him. "Roger, are you all right? You've been brooding so much as of late. Is there anything wrong?" her soft voice reached his ear, and she put a hand on his arm. Roger took a deep breath.

            "Cho, could we talk sometime today? I need to talk to you about something," he muttered. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Robin Harrison grinning and giving him a thumbs-up. Cho gave him a strange look.

            "Of course we can. You seem very worried. Are you sure you'll be okay?"

            "Yes... yes. I'll be fine," he hurriedly replied. _As long as you don't laugh in my face when you hear what I have to tell you, he thought to himself._

            Cho nodded, and patted his hand reassuringly before turning to her breakfast.

            Soon, it was time for the Quidditch game. The entire school turned out to watch. Cho and Roger sat with their house, sharing an umbrella, with her huddling close to him for warmth. They watched as Diggory shook hands with Wood, before the two captains mounted their broomsticks, and the game began.

            It was, Cho reflected, one of the most difficult games she had ever seen.  Even amplified, Lee Jordan's voice was getting lost in the wind's howling.  The Chasers were moving in slow motion, fighting the wind, the Beaters were nearly useless, for it was hard to see anything, and the Seekers just floated in the air, obviously not even bothering.  Cho reckoned Potter couldn't see anything at all, with those glasses.

            The game stretched on.  Roger grumbled that it was dinnertime and he was getting hungry, but of course, no one left.  Madam Hooch called a time out, and after that, Harry seemed more confident on his broom.  Everyone was wet and rather miserable, hoping against hope that _someone would find the Snitch.  No one was even sure of the score anymore.  Roger thought that Gryffindor was up, but Cho argued that it was Hufflepuff.  The arguing helped pass the time._

            And then, suddenly, Cedric zoomed across the field, and Harry quickly tried to reach the same spot.  Cho squinted and thought she saw a glimmer of gold between them.  She cheered for Cedric, though the wind snatched her words away before anyone but her nearest neighbors heard them.

            But suddenly, a silence began to descend, even drowning out the wind and rain.  It was very confusing, but nearly tangible, and everyone looked around with wide eyes. Suddenly a second-year girl shrieked and pointed down, and everyone looked.  Over a hundred Dementors stood there, hooded heads up towards the players and spectators.  Cold washed over everyone, many people began to cry, and Roger was settling down into a cloud of gloom, remembering Cho and Cedric smiling and laughing at each other, when suddenly, three things happened.

            Harry Potter fell off his broom, obviously unconscious.

            Dumbledore summoned a huge Partronus to drive the Dementors away before yelling something in the direction of Harry just as he was about to hit the ground, and everything became clearer.

            A determined Cedric Diggory's hand closed around the Snitch.

            The game was over. Hufflepuff had won. Under other circumstances, Cho might have gone to congratulate Cedric Diggory, but as it was, Cedric was nowhere to be seen, and Cho, shaking with both the rain and the aftermath of the Dementors' advent, did not want to linger on the pitch. So, she allowed Roger, who was holding the umbrella in one hand and had the other one firmly around her trembling shoulders, lead her back inside the castle.

            By the time all the confusion and chaos over the Dementors' appearance on the Quidditch pitch had been sorted out, it was quite late. Roger made a small detour to the kitchen and came out with a slice of warm apple pie and a cup of hot cocoa before heading back to Ravenclaw Tower. When he finally entered the common room, Cho was putting away her books and making her way towards the portrait hole.

            "Cho, don't you want some food? And remember, I have something I need to talk to you about." Roger looked at her, wondering where on earth she was going at this hour. Cho gave him am apologetic look.

            "I'm really sorry, Roger. Cedric told me he _needed to tell me something really important. But I'll be back later, okay? I __will talk to you afterwards, I promise. Have a nice evening!" And with that, she ran out, leaving him standing there transfixed, food still in his hands._

            "Have a nice evening? Not bloody likely!" he muttered to himself.

            Sitting down at a table, he pulled out his Advanced Charms homework, and forced himself to concentrate on that... Charms... not Cho and Cedric together... she _said that there was nothing going on between them... Charms... __Charms... his quill fell from his fingers to the floor. Bending down to pick it up, he saw a scrap of parchment lying under the table. Curious, he opened it up and read the short words written on it, and then, promptly wished that he hadn't. On it, written in Cedric Diggory's neat handwriting, were the words:_

_Cho,_

_Meet me in the __Astronomy__Tower__. I have to tell you something really important._

_I think I like someone._

_-Ced___

No studying for Charms got done that night.

            Cho was quite oblivious to the fact that Roger's world was collapsing around this ears as she made her way to the Astronomy Tower.  She wondered what was so important that she was breaking curfew, but yet again, she _had rather wanted to talk to Ced about what had happened after the game.  She wasn't entirely sure what had gone on, she only knew what the whole school knew-the game would not be replayed, Harry Potter was in the Hospital Wing, and there was a rumor that Oliver Wood had tried to drown himself in the showers._

            She walked up the stairs to see Cedric, eyes to the sky, hands clasped behind him, looking raptly at the stars. He didn't turn, for he hadn't heard her come in.

            "Hello, Ced," Cho said softly.  "Are you all right?"

            He turned around then, and the look of desperation in his eyes was obvious.  "Thanks for coming, Cho."

            She walked over and hugged him.  "Don't be silly.  I always come."

            He returned the hug.  "It's what I love about you.  You're always such a good friend."

            She saw that he wasn't quite ready to talk about whatever he had called her up here for, so she asked about something else.  "I heard the score of the game still stands.  You were sixty points up.  What happened?"

            Cedric sighed.  "I tried to ask for a rematch when I realized what had happened.  I didn't see him falling, you know.  But… Hooch and McGonagall and Dumbledore and even Wood would have none of it, so eventually I had to admit defeat… victory, rather."

            Cho nodded.  "That was very nice of you," she said honestly.  "I don't know that I would have had the compassion to do the same thing."

            Cedric looked tortured.  "It isn't just compassion, Cho.  It's… well… is Harry all right?" he asked abruptly.  "They wouldn't let me into the Infirmary, said the team was already in there, and I was very worried…"

            Cho shook her head, wondering about the use of the first name, suddenly.  "I wouldn't know.  Dumbledore said he was all right, though.  He'll probably be out and about tomorrow."

            Cedric nodded fervently.  "I hope so… I feel miserable about it as it is."

            Cho rolled her eyes.  "Please.  Why should you be miserable?  The Dementors weren't your fault, and he would have fallen whether you caught the Snitch or not."

            He looked uncomfortable.  "It's not just that.  It's that… well… I… Harry, you know… it's…"

            Seeing Cedric stutter and remembering his note, Cho's eyes widened.  "Oh no."

            Cedric grimaced.  "Oh yes."

            Cho hugged him again, resting her head comfortably on his chest.  "You don't make it easy on yourself, do you?"

            She felt Cedric sigh.  "You don't choose who you fall in love with, Cho."

            "Yes, yes, I know."  She yawned widely.  "I'm really tired, I stayed up most of the night yesterday.  Do you mind if we sit down?"

            Cedric nodded.  "Sure.  Here, look, I asked Dumbledore about that sleeping bag charm."  He pointed his wand and muttered, and a big fluffy blanket appeared on the floor.  "At least your robes won't get dirty."

            "Yeah.  Thanks, Ced."  They sat down, she leaned her head against him, and before she realized it, had fallen asleep.  Cedric smiled down at her fondly, then pulled up the free end of the blanket to cover her and leaned his head against the wall, hoping that he, too, might get some rest.

For the twentieth time that night, Roger looked at his watch. It was now two in the morning. And still, Cho had not returned. The untouched pie and cocoa still stood on the table, now ice-cold. Roger felt his ire grow exponentially with every passing minute. What the devil was she doing up there in the Astronomy Tower with that blasted Cedric Diggory? Actually, come to think of it, he did not want to know. 

Everyone else had gone to bed, and the common room was deserted. However, Roger, pacing around the common room with his fists clenched, did not feel sleepy in the least. Oh, no! He was entirely too angry and hurt for rest to come to him.

Why had Cho decided to go and talk to Diggory instead of him? What did Diggory have that he didn't? She knew, she must have known that he had something important to tell her, but decided instead to go talk to Cedric bloody Diggory instead! Why? _Why?!  Unless…_

Unless she had figured out what it was that he was going to tell her. Unless she realized that he felt more than friendship for her. And she did not want that. Because she did not and would never think of him that way. Because she liked Diggory that way, not him. And what she had said, about nothing going on between the two of them, was a lie.

Trembling in hurt anger, he stopped pacing for a moment, leaning against the wall for support. Maybe… maybe he had been jumping to conclusions about her? Maybe it was truly harmless? He glanced at his watch again. Three o'clock. No, it couldn't be. She was still in the Astronomy Tower. Thus, Diggory's confession of his feelings to her must have been well received and accepted, and right now, they were probably… almost involuntarily, one fist slammed brutally into the wall. Had there not been tapestries covering the entire surface, he would likely have broken several fingers. As it was, painful bruises started to form instantaneously along the split knuckles. But he barely noticed the pain of the flesh in the far-greater pain of the soul.

            He paced the common room, now the only one left awake.  He felt like a caged animal with nothing to take his rage out upon.  He looked at his watch.  Four o'clock.  Damn it.  Damn and blast it all to hell, he was going to go _get her._

            He nearly ran out of the common room and kept his breakneck pace up until he reached the stairs which ascended into the darkness of the Astronomy Tower.  There he stopped, suddenly not entirely sure he wanted to go up and see for himself.  Cho was, after all, entitled to some manner of privacy in her personal business, though it irked him to no end to admit it.  And… well, he just didn't think he could take it if he were to walk up there and see them… no.  No, he couldn't do it.

            He narrowly missed punching the wall again when Mrs. Norris came up the hall.  Seeing her, he sprinted back to the Ravenclaw Common to pace again.  This was turning out to be the longest night of his life.

***

            The sky had cleared overnight, and Cho was now running back to her common room, very disheveled and cursing herself for falling asleep, as she had only been awakened by the first ray of sunlight hitting her face.  She felt horrible, especially because she had promised to talk to Roger, and now he was doubtless asleep.  She had _meant to go back, but Ced hadn't woken her up… They were incredibly lucky Mr. Filch hadn't decided to check up there the night before.  It could have ended with expulsion for either or both of them._

            Cursing under her breath, she approached the portrait.  "Where have you been?" Rowena Ravenclaw's stern face asked her.

            "Out," Cho answered shortly.  "Canta per me," she added, and the portrait swung open, still looking very disapproving.

            Entering the common room, she saw a familiar head of black hair visible over the top of the couch. "Roger? I'm back. I'm so sorry I stayed for long, I really didn't mean to! What did you need to talk to me about? I'm here now so…" her voice faltered and died away when he stood up and she saw the expression on his face. Fury like she'd never seen before, along with a cold mistrust.

            Roger had started when she had come in. Six o'clock. She had been out all bloody night! Getting up from the couch to look at her, he took in her rumpled robes, her tousled, unbraided hair, and his suspicions were confirmed. "What in damnation were you doing up there?! _Do you realize that you were up in the bloody __Astronomy__Tower__ all night long?!"_

            She winced slightly, "Well, Cedric had something really important to tell me. I'm _really sorry, but afterwards I fell asleep and didn't wake up 'till now. I really had meant to come back to talk to you."_

            Roger gave a cynical laugh, "Oh, and what insurmountably important thing did he have to tell you? Why didn't you come back immediately after he told you? I was up all bloody night waiting for you to come back, nearly went up to that tower to see what you were up to!" 

            Cho looked scandalized, "I can't tell you what he told me, it's confidential! If he had wanted you to know, he would have told you! I just stayed with him a bit because it was really bothering him and he wanted some company and comfort. It's not like anything _happened; surely you don't think that he would do anything bad to me?"_

            Roger paused for a moment. She was looking at him blankly, big brown eyes wide with confusion. But he knew that Cho was capable of pulling perfect blank faces when she was so inclined, no matter what she was thinking and feeling. Finally, blue eyes dark and narrowed with anger, voice cold as ice, he hissed out between clenched teeth, "A likely story, Chang… fifty points from Ravenclaw for staying out all night, and be thankful it's not ten times that!" Saying so, he stormed out of the common room, leaving a shocked Cho behind, a hurt expression on her face.


	6. Everything You Want

~*Everything You Want*~

Chapter Six: Everything You Want

Dove: And we're back!  Miss us?  Sorry, Dove's having a rough time-the first week of college is just over and I already want to die.  The Music Literature people think we're all idiots and simpletons, and the Music Theory people think we're all geniuses.  No one can find the balance.  Furthermore, the vocal department and the dance department hate each other, I don't know why, but since I'm in both, I get caught in the crossfire.  But I'm sure you didn't care to know… anyway.  There will be more updates now that I'm settled in.  Hallelujah.

Thalia: Yay! A new chapter from us! And through the hell of move-in and whatnot too! Be proud of us! Dove has auditions night and day, and I have eighteen freaking honors credits to ace this term, and we're still ficcying for you! In this chapter, we have more of the wonderful, fantabulous ANGST!! Yayness! *grins* Okay, I'll stop my inane babbling right now, just read on and enjoy! And leave us reviews!!

Disclaimer: If we owned Harry Potter, I would personally set the experimental charms department on figuring out a way for my Music Theory homework to do itself.  Guess we don't have it yet.

_"I'm everything you want_

_I'm everything you need_

_I'm everything inside of you_

_That you wish you could be_

_I say all the right things_

_At exactly the right time_

_But I mean nothing to you_

_And I don't know why_

_Why?"_

-Vertical Horizon, "Everything You Want"

Cho stood shell-shocked in the blood-red light of the rising sun, perfectly still even after the sound of his rage had faded away.  He might have slapped her and she'd have taken it better.  Cho's heart was bleeding like the sky, for she had no idea what she had done, and even the points she had lost for her house, which had had a decent chance in the House Cup until now, were pushed out of her mind with the numbing realization.

            Roger hated her.

            She had seen him enraged before, furious, on the verge of violence, even.  But she had never seen his blue eyes turn icy, so cold she had wanted to hug herself to keep her teeth from chattering.  There was no mistaking that look in his eyes.  The only time she had seen him nearly this far gone was the time she had gotten hit in the head with a bludger.  From that point on, every time the Hufflepuff Beater's name who had hit her was brought up, Roger's eyes would glint in a similar emotion.  She had been scared he would murder the boy then, but even that paled compared to now.

            That was how Penelope found her, walking down the stairs in hopes of understanding the yelling of only minutes ago: pale as a sheet, washed in the crimson light of the dawn, her eyes wide and turned inward as though carefully examining her own mind.

            "Cho?" Penelope said softly.  Cho didn't respond.  "Cho.  Come on, Cho, snap out of it.  Wake up."  Penelope gently touched the other girl's shoulder, and Cho, suddenly made aware of the world around her and the passing time which had been standing still, felt her knees shake.  Penelope felt it too, and looked concerned.  "Do you need to sit down?"

            Wordlessly, Cho nodded and dropped onto the nearest couch, still wondering what this floating, horrible, frightening feeling was.  She still couldn't make herself talk.  The tears came then, and she started shaking silently, only half aware that a concerned Penelope had put an arm around her for comfort.  Finally, she managed a sentence.  "He hates me," she whispered.  "He… _hates me."_

            Penelope looked confused, but stroked Cho's hair in a conciliatory manner.  "Who hates you?  Was that Roger down here just now?"  Cho nodded.  "Nonsense, you goose.  He doesn't hate you.  Don't cry."

            Cho shook her head emphatically.  "No, Penny, you don't _understand.  Roger __hates me.  I saw it in his eyes."_

            Penelope, seeing Cho would not be convinced otherwise, sat in silence and let the younger girl cry.

            Penny waited until the younger girl had calmed somewhat, before asking her, "Now, why do you think that Roger hates you?"

Cho took a deep, shaky breath before starting softly, "I was going to talk to him. I swear I was! I promised that I would, but Cedric had to tell me something _really important, and so I decided to go and hear what Cedric had to say, but then I fell asleep! When I got back here he was awake, and I tried to apologize, but he wouldn't listen at all and basically told me that he didn't believe me story, and took off fifty points! __Fifty points!!! Now, can you still deny that he hates me?!" the girl was practically screaming in anguish now, her eyes huge on her pallid face. Penny sighed to herself._

"Well, I'll make sure that the points are regained. I'm sure I'll think of a way to get them back, but as for Roger... he'll hopefully calm down soon... then maybe he'll listen to your explanation."

Cho's voice only grew more hysterical. "_POINTS?! I don't even care about the bloody points right now! He __hates me! You don't understand, Penny, I've known him nearly all my life, he's __never looked at me like that before... this isn't temper... he hates me... he hates me..."_

At that moment, Penny was fervently glad that she was not in either their positions right now. However, her job was also unpleasant. "I'll go talk to him, maybe find out what's wrong. Do you want to come to breakfast, Cho?"

The younger girl shook her head forlornly. "He hates me... I'm not hungry, Penny. I think I'll just wait here until classes are going to begin."

Penelope sighed, but knew when she had lost.  "Go on to bed, Cho," she said.  "I'll tell Professor Flitwick you didn't feel well."  Cho didn't get up.  "Please, honey, get some rest."

"I have an Arithmancy exam this afternoon," Cho mumbled.  "I had best go."

"Rest until lunch then.  Come on, or I won't give back the points after all."

"I don't care about the stupid points."

"Well, the rest of the house will," Penelope said practically.

"You'll remember to tell Flitwick?" Cho sighed.

"Yes," Penny assured.  "I'll ask Melissa to get your homework as well.  Will you go to bed now?"

"Yes, I suppose I should."  Cho got up and hugged Penelope.  "Thanks, Penny."

Penelope smiled.  "That's what your friendly neighborhood Prefect is for."  She watched the younger girl ascend the stairs, then set about reporting a gain in points.  Finally, she grinned and ran to the hourglasses that counted points.  "Penelope Clearwater, sixth year Ravenclaw Prefect," she said identifying herself to make the spell take effect.  "Forty points to Cho Chang of Ravenclaw due to her excellent handling of panicking first years during Sirius Black's breach."

The hourglass shifted and she nodded at a job well done before heading down to breakfast, where she waited patiently for a confused Roger to come down.  "Morning, Penny," he said tersely.

"Good morning, Roger," she said pleasantly.  "How are you?"

"Someone's been tampering with the points," he scowled.  "I went to take fifty from Chang for her inexcusable behavior, but someone had already added forty."

"That's because you can't take points off for a lover's spat," Penelope said briskly.

"It was _you?" Roger said, with a very betrayed look._

"Your temper gets ahead of you," Penelope said, picking up her books.  "Shouldn't breaking the poor girl's heart be enough for you?  Now excuse me, I have class."

Roger glared down at his plate.  "I was justified.  And it was _not a lover's spat!"  But Penelope was already gone._

***

For the next few days, although Cho tried time and again to talk to him, Roger would not talk to her. Gone were the friendly study sessions in the evenings. Gone were the chats to and from Quidditch practice. He started sitting with the other members of the Quidditch team, and would never speak to Cho unless absolutely necessary. In short, she was now invisible as far as he was concerned, and in the ensuing uncomfortable coldness of his behavior, Cho almost wished he would storm at her again, just to show that he felt any emotion towards her at all besides stony indifference.

The others in the house quickly noticed. It was possible that Roger had said something to them, for Cho noticed Robin Harrison and the other Quidditch players give her very strange looks whenever they saw her. Penelope was at her wit's end, trying to act as a go-between for the two. The first year girls who idolized Cho started carrying sad looks, as if their favorite fairy tale had been dashed to pieces.

By the time the game with Hufflepuff rolled around, Cho had just about given up on trying to make him talk to her. The night before the game, she had a long talk with Cedric, pouring out her lamentations to him. Cedric, too, got a strange look on his face, but did not say anything besides wishing her luck, and, to her great surprise, apologizing.

"I'm so sorry this happened, Cho; it's all my fault."

"What? No, its not... how can you say that?" Cho exclaimed, a confused expression on her face.

"I shouldn't have kept you so long. I should have known that this would happen..." Cedric muttered, almost as if speaking to himself, "I knew that things were already tense between us, this was just the final straw..."

"What? What final straw? There's no tension between us, Cedric, and I don't see what you have to do with Roger not talking to me." Cho said, bewildered.

Cedric smiled wryly, "Never mind. That's not what I meant. But I really don't know what to tell you, Cho. Whatever is bothering Roger is not for me to say, but for him. I just hope he will tell you before it's too late," Cedric said enigmatically, "Now, I won't keep you here any longer. That would just infuriate Roger even more, wouldn't it? Go to bed, and good luck tomorrow during the game!" He gave her a hug, then shooed her away.

"Infuriate him even more? He doesn't even _care about me!" Cho muttered, indignation rising within her heart._

Cedric heard her words as she walked out, and chuckled to himself.  "Oh, but he does care. He cares much, much more than you can even fathom. I just hope you realize it soon."

Cho made it back into her common room just before curfew, her heart giving a pang at Roger's making it very obvious he was ignoring her.  She raised her chin a fraction of an inch and mentally told herself she would _not look upset.  Instead, she picked up her Charms textbook and, plopping down in her favorite windowseat, began to read ahead.  She wasn't at all tired, despite the game the next morning.  She worked late into the night until her mind was too exhausted to think about Roger anymore.  Only then did she sleep, too tired to dream._

She woke just in time to run downstairs for toast before having to dash to the locker rooms and into her blue uniform robes.  Robin asked her if she was all right, and she sighed and told him she was just fine.  It was just odd that, for the first time since she had played Quidditch, Roger hadn't sent his owl with a flower and a note of encouragement to wake her up.

"You sure you're all right, Cho?" Robin asked, very concerned.  "You look half-dead."

"I feel half-dead," she said, "but I'll still win this game.  So don't worry about it."

"I care more about you than I do about the game," Robin said, glaring at her.  "Not all of us are being prats."

"Who's being a prat?" she asked tiredly.

"Roger."

She grimaced.  "Roger bloody flaming Davies is none of my concern."

Robin looked at her curiously.  "Are you mad at him too, now?  I thought he was the only stupid one."

Cho sighed.  "No, not really… confused.  Hurt.  He hates me suddenly, and I don't know why.  But I barely slept and I think I'm sick and I've got a monster headache, so cursing him seemed the thing to do at the time."

Just then Roger entered the room, looked over them and spoke very hollowly and emotionlessly.  "We need this victory in order for Slytherin to fall behind, since we've no chance at the Cup unless we push them behind Gryffindor.  Let's play a neat game."  With that, he began to study his broomstick, avidly ignoring everyone else.

"See, what did I tell you?  A prat."

Cho snorted but didn't say anything to disagree.

The team, with Roger in the front and Cho bringing up the rear, flew out onto the pitch. Robin, Cho and the others all took positions in the air, along with the Hufflepuff team, but Roger and Cedric landed on the ground to shake hands. 

Roger's face was stony as he faced the Hufflepuff captain. Giving Cedric's hand a cold, loose shake, he said not a word, although his eyes were cold as chips of blue ice. Cedric bit his lip, then said, "Look Davies, that night, I was only telling Cho-" Roger scowled, and flew into the air before the other boy could continue. Cedric sighed heavily, and took to the air as well. 

The game began. The Chasers, unburdened by troubles of the heart, played as a seamless team, putting many goals past the Hufflepuff Keeper. Cho determinedly put Roger out of her mind, and scanned the pitch resolutely for the snitch. No sign of it yet. She flew in circles in the pitch, cheering half-heartedly whenever Ravenclaw scored. Now and then she glanced wistfully at the young man in blue robes, Beater club in hand, black hair blowing in the wind, before scolding herself and forcing herself to search for the snitch again. 

Then, just as Lee Jordan announced, "Harrison scores again! 110 to 50, Ravenclaw," she saw a glimmer of gold near the ground. Immediately pointing her broomstick downward, she entered a steep nose-dive, seeing out of the corner of her eye that Cedric was at her tail. However, she did not see the bludger that the same Hufflepuff Beater who had caught her in the head one time headed towards her. 

It did not hit. She caught the snitch five feet away from the ground, winning the game 260 to 50, and looked up to see Roger pelting the bludger out of her path. Ravenclaw cheers filled the air as the teams dismounted, and Cho ran up to Roger. 

"Thank you."

He merely shrugged, a scowl on his face, and walked off without a backwards glance, leaving Cho standing on the Quidditch pitch looking after him sadly, and the rest of the team sighing behind her.

They got back to their common room exhausted and triumphant.  Everyone on the team congratulated Cho, and even Roger told her, his voice rather emotionless, that she had done rather well.  He didn't look at her while he said it, but rather over her shoulder, and she could tell that he hadn't wanted to say it, and had only done it for the sake of the team, all of whom were so excited. 

That hurt more than a slap would have too. 

That's how life went.   Every once in a while, Cho would try to talk to him, and he would brush her off.  With a very Hufflepuff sort of doggedness, she kept at it.  As she told Cedric, she had very few friends she could trust, and she refused to give up one of the best so easily.  Still, the attempts at friendly conversation came more and more rarely.  She couldn't work up the will to try only to be looked through as though she was as boring and generally useless as Professor Binns.  She looked at him often, especially when he was immersed in a book and not likely to look up. 

Penelope tried to reason with him once or twice.  After being told to sod off for the second time, she glared at Roger, and commented, "You were much better when you _weren't in love, you dimwit.  Certainly more polite."  Then she swept off before he could tell her she was being ridiculous.  She didn't tell Cho anything for fear of upsetting her. _

Ravenclaw played Slytherin, and was slaughtered.  Cho had been up all night, wrestling with Herbology and hopelessness with Roger, and had had utterly no energy when it came time to fly.  Her eyes wouldn't stay open, and besides, the Snitch had been on the other end of the field and it was common knowledge Malfoy's broom was faster.  No one was upset with her except Roger, who brooded and looked for all the world like a tragic hero.  She decided it would be best to just ignore him, and studied for end of term exams as the Christmas holidays approached.

Almost all of the students were looking forward to the holidays and a break from schoolwork, but Cho was not. At least when she had homework, she could force herself to think of other things besides Roger, whose coldness towards her nowadays made the winter weather outside seem like the tropics in comparison. 

This day, she was at Hogsmeade buying presents for her friends. She had gotten a box of candy apiece for her roommates for politeness' sake, a book for Penelope, and now... she had twenty Galleons left. Enough to buy someone a very nice present and have a few galleons left for one last additional gift. She walked into the Quidditch store, and took a look around. Finally, she picked up a copy of _Quidditch Through The Ages, and a deluxe broomstick servicing kit. The former for Cedric, the latter for Roger. Even though he was not speaking to her. It was Christmas... and even he would know that it was a time for forgiveness. She would give him his present, and try to talk to him, ask him what was wrong. And... if he still refused to talk to her... Cho sighed... she would give up for good. She lifted her chin defiantly, not that he was anywhere close by to see her. If he still would not forgive her for whatever crime she committed to anger him so much, then he was a stupid git and she... she would be better without him! "Christmas is the season for forgiveness..." she muttered to herself, almost like a prayer. _

However, at the moment, Roger Davies was not feeling very forgiving at all. He was sitting at a table in the Three Broomsticks, scowling like a thundercloud. Both Penelope and her boyfriend Percy were lecturing him at once. Penelope was looking especially furious with him, and Percy, having a natural propensity for lecturing people besides his inclination to agree with whatever Penelope had to say, was rebuking him as well. 

"Look here, Davies, I'm not trying to mind your business, but Penelope is right. You cannot just start ignoring your friend without any explanation. It is horribly impolite and obviously hurts her feelings. Plus, you're a Prefect and you must set a good example for your housemates and not hold such childish grudges." Percy said, his "I'm-Head-Boy-so-listen-to-what-I-have-to-say" look in place on his face. 

Roger remained silent. He would _not be bossed around by Percy Weasley in this instance, and saying anything would just encourage the Head Boy. _

"Roger, she _cries! Cho cries at night... sobs herself to sleep. Even those twits of roommates are noticing and getting concerned. You know better than all of us that she practically never cries for any reason. Just what are you trying to accomplish by treating her like she's not a person? I __told you at the beginning of the year not to do anything to hurt her. She's a wonderful girl, and you're only going to lose her forever, if you persist in doing this!" Penelope exclaimed vehemently, her face flushed with frustrated annoyance at her fellow Ravenclaw Prefect. _

At Penny's last words, Roger could not stand it any more. Blue eyes narrowing in anguished fury, he hissed, "You don't understand, Penelope! You can't lose something you never had!" Then, as Percy and Penelope watched, wide-eyed, he stalked out of the Three Broomsticks.


	7. Never Is a Promise

~*Everything You Want*~

Chapter Seven: Never Is a Promise

Thalia: Poor Roger! Poor Cho! The course of true love never ran smooth, indeed. In this chapter, Roger gives Cho a present that he never meant to, and sorrow darkens their hearts like the clouds in the winter sky. Will the two sadistic authors ever give those two a break? Continue to read this fic, and all will become apparent in the end ^_^! Oh, and reviews are good, too! 

Dove: Reviews are more than good.  They're vital to the life of this story!  So feed us many reviews, because they are the fuel that keeps us writing, seeing as college food stinks.  Oh, and I have to say, poor Cecilia.  She has to deal with so much stupidity.  Oh, and I love Calista.  That's all I have to say.

Disclaimer: In the world where we owned Harry Potter, you would discover that we did not share the boys.  Be glad we don't own it.

_"You'll say_

_Don't fear your dreams_

_It's easier than it seems_

_You'll say you'd never_

_Let me fall from hopes so high_

_But never is a promise_

_And you can't afford to lie…"_

-Fiona Apple, "Never Is a Promise"

Christmas morning was really the only time Ravenclaw Tower was noisy and out of control.  During the rest of the year, such frivolities as fun and noise were generally frowned upon by the studious Prefects.  Any child Sorted into Ravenclaw learned quickly that fun was for holidays and Hogsmeade weekends.  On Christmas, however, even those studying for O.W.L.s put their books aside, and a frenzied sort of merriment reigned in the tower, as though making up for lost time.  Cho liked the energy.

Except this year, she was the only one who had stayed, other than Calista Green, a first year girl whose parents cared very little about her welfare, according to Penelope, who had talked to Cho about her lone companion before leaving for Christmas at home.  Calista was cheerful enough, if very quiet.  Cho had played her chess on Christmas Eve before heading back upstairs for bed.

Cho's parents were in China, as they often were during the holidays.  In years past, she had stayed with the Davies family, but with Roger the way he was, she hadn't even asked, just signed up to stay the holidays at Hogwarts.  She was planning a walk into Hogsmeade Christmas afternoon, though, to give him his gift and see if she could mend things.

Cho had awakened to a huge pile of gifts at the foot of her bed.  There was something from every younger Ravenclaw girl, which made her smile.  It was nice to be an influence on them; she was certainly a better one than Melissa or Cassandra could have been.  There were packages from every member of the Quidditch team, a new rune dictionary from Penelope, and chocolate from various other Ravenclaws, including her roommates.  There was a large, beribboned box which revealed a set of beautiful pale pink dress robes in a delicate silk.  She shook her head at Cedric-certainly the only one of her friends well-off enough who could have guessed her dress size from just looking at her.  She hung up the robes, deciding to wear them to dinner that night.

There was nothing from Roger, but she decided to hope, optimistically, that he wanted to give his gift to her in person.  With that cheerful outlook, she donned a bright red sweater and a pair of black leggings, skipping down the stairs to grab Calista from her solitary post near the fire and dragging her along to breakfast, talking cheerfully the entire time.

It was still early, and the two of them grabbed a basket of muffins and a teapot before heading back up the stairs to sit on the blue velvet couches of the common room, sipping hot tea and happily inhaling the muffins.

Calista started to open up after a while, and Cho was glad she had stayed with her.  The poor girl would have been all alone over Christmas, and that wasn't right in the spirit of the season at all.

"Cho?" Calista asked uncertainly.  "What's it like to be in love with Roger?  I'll bet it's hard.  Roger's not been very nice to you lately."

Cho dropped her teacup on her lap, hissed at the scalding tea which burned through her clothing, and quickly muttered several spells to clean and dry herself off, wondering if she could look up a charm to ease burns later on.  "What do you mean?" she asked, trying to be casual.  "Isn't the consensus with you girls that I'm marrying Cedric?"

Calista shrugged.  "That's what Glenda thinks, but she's got her head full of weddings and silly romance anyway.  She's the loud one, and I don't want to argue with her about it, you know," she shrugged.  "But you don't love Cedric.  I watch people and you don't look at him the way you would if you loved him.  You look at Roger like that, but only when he can't see.  It's hard, isn't it?"

Cho swallowed and considered her options in dealing with this precocious child.  She _didn't love Roger Davies.  She missed his friendship, but loved him?  No.  Of course she didn't.  A girl would have to be __mad to fall in love with someone with that temper.  Love Roger Davies?  Well, __really.  _

"I don't feel like that about Roger.  We're just friends.  Or at least, we were."

Calista looked at her silently for a few minutes.  "Are you going to Hogsmeade to see him today?"

"I'm trying," Cho smiled.  "He can be such a prat, can't he?"

"Just a little bit," Calista agreed.

***

         Despite her bravado and assurances to Calista, Cho found her optimism and certainty waning with every step towards the Davies' house. Calista had struck a nerve somehow... the quiet, disconcertingly perceptive girl's assertion that she was in love with Roger. Now, _there was a preposterous idea! He was a git. Temperamental, proud, crazy, too willing to jump to conclusions, grudge-holding, always alternating between too hot to too cold... caring, kind-hearted, intelligent, deep, thoughtful, a great friend, handsome... Cho came to a dead halt. The smell of butterbeer emanating from the Three Broomsticks across the street must have been getting to her! Yes, that was it! She shook her head, black hair flying around her like a swishing cloak. Feeling slightly clearer-minded, she shrugged. Okay, she supposed that it was __possible for __some girl to love him. But that girl was certainly not her!!! After all, she certainly had too much self-respect to blindly put up with his overbearing temper! _

_Then why did you spend a small fortune getting a present for him and hoping to get him to talk to you despite the fact that he blew up at you for no reason? an impertinent voice asked in her brain. Cho set her teeth and resolutely tamped down all her conflicting thoughts about Roger. They would only make her nervous. And she couldn't afford to be nervous right now. She was walking down her street. Roger's house was three houses away. The birdbath, which had been their childhood trysting spot, was frozen over and abandoned, and at the sight of it, Cho felt her lip tremble. If only they could go back to those simple, carefree, happy days, when they were still children, playing together. _

_No. Must not think of that. Leng-Jing, Cho. You'll give Roger his present. You'll find out what's wrong, work that out, and everything will be fine. With that thought firmly in her mind, she put on a smile, and walked up to the door. _

She had just raised her hand to knock when something made her pause. Music. That in itself was not surprising. Roger, she knew, played the piano. Many a time in the past had she heard the dulcet keys forming beautiful melodies under his fingers, from light-hearted Strauss waltzes to tempestuous Beethoven sonatas. And every Christmas that she could remember since living here, there would be Christmas carols, both Wizard and Muggle, floating from the house. But not today. Today he was playing a song that she had never heard before. A sullen tune in a minor key, mostly ice-calm, quiet notes, but now and then, the brooding melody would escalate in a stormy crescendo to anguished, rolling cadences, then quiet to the cold, gloomy melody once more. Beautiful, to be sure, but hurt and embittered. Her task would be harder than she thought. But it needed to be done, because... because she could not stand this coldness from him anymore. She raised her hand and knocked the door. 

Roger Davies had been in a bad mood all day. His mother, his all-too-empathic mother, whose sensitivity and caring he had always appreciated until now, had been a little _too prying and personal with the questions of why Cho had not come to stay with them that holiday. This, of course, made his mutinous mind wander to said Seeker, and before he knew it, mind and fingers seem to have allied against him and his determination to put her out of his mind as long as she was not within sight, and he found himself playing something... almost without thought... on the piano. Something soothing yet painful. And then, in the middle of the dejected ditty, there was a knock on the door. Standing up and carefully putting on a blank face, he walked to the door and opened it up. And, had his mother not appeared in the hallway at that moment, nearly slammed it shut a second later when he saw who was standing at the other side. _

Cho was standing there, holding a package wrapped in blue paper in her gloved hands. "To Roger" was written in her small, neat handwriting on the tag on top, and her eyes, looking into his own, were filled with a pathetic sort of plea, as if begging for acceptance. He found that at that moment, he had absolutely nothing to say. 

"Cho!" Cecilia Davies quickly reached the door and flung it open, giving her son a none-too-gentle shove to the side to let the Chinese girl in, "Happy Christmas, please come in!"

Cho hesitated, and glanced uncertainly at Roger. His face was blank, but his eyes, which had been filled with pure surprise at the sight of her a moment earlier, were now cold and impersonal once more, as if he was saying "You can come in, but it is at my _mother's invitation. __NOT MINE!" Her face became stricken for a brief moment before she schooled it back into a smile and turned back to Mrs. Davies. Unbeknownst to her, Cecilia Davies had already seen the fleeting exchange of sorrowful, tense glances, and made a mental note to drag the truth from her son later. _

However, she insisted that the girl come in and have a cup of eggnog with them. Cho walked in, and silently held out the present to Roger. He stood still for a moment, and then, stiffly took it from her hands, thanked her coolly, and disappeared up the stairs to the sanctuary of his room, where he would not have to be face-to-face with Cedric Diggory's lov-with her. 

Cecilia led Cho to the kitchen, waving her wand and summoning a cup from the cupboards. Filling it with warm eggnog, she handed it to the girl with a smile. Cho thanked her, and Cecilia scrutinized the Oriental girl as she sipped the drink. She had grown up quite a bit from when she and Roger had first met. Quite the little beauty, small and spirited and graceful. But there was confusion in her eyes. Confusion and hurt and growing anger. Now... where had she seen _that before? _

"Happy Christmas to you, Mrs. Davies; thanks for the eggnog," Cho drained her cup and said politely. Cecilia smiled at her. 

"You're welcome, dear. We've missed you around here; this is the first Christmas since you've started Hogwarts that you haven't stayed with us." Cho winced almost imperceptibly. 

"Well... ah... I've decided to stay at Hogwarts... er... get some work done and such," she mumbled. Mrs. Davies nodded, and although it was obvious from that gaze that she didn't believe a word that Cho said, she did not pry into the issue. 

"I see. Well, we have a present for you anyway; let me go and get it." Cecilia rose and walked out, returning shortly with a small box. "Open it, see if you like it." 

Cho thanked her and took the package. "To Cho, our nearly-daughter, Best Wishes for a Wonderful Christmas! Love, the Davies family". She bit her lip. No, Christmas was not going to be wonderful at all this year, those wishes notwithstanding. She opened up the box to see, nestled in white satin, an exquisite set of hair combs, jeweled with brilliant diamonds. Well, that was too nice of them! Giving Mrs. Davies a hug, she said sincerely, "Thank you so much, they're beautiful! But I couldn't take them, they must have cost so much!"

Cecilia returned the hug, "Nonsense, dear. I really think that you should be the one to have them. Now, let me put them on for you and see how they would look in that lovely raven hair." With gentle fingers, she unbraided Cho's hair, and the unbound, slightly wavy tresses fell past the girl's waist. Carefully and deftly, Cecilia pinned a comb on either side of the girl's head, and stepped back to admire her handiwork. The diamonds on the combs glittered in the light of the kitchen, stunningly contrasted against the dark sheen of Cho's hair. "Beautiful! Roger, come down here and have a look!" she called up the stairs. 

Several long moments later, slow footsteps were heard, and Roger walked into the kitchen. His mother was smiling at him, and Cho... good Heavens! 

Cho Chang... his former friend... the girl he loved with all his heart and not-quite-hated with all his soul... was standing by his mother's side, blushing slightly. Her hair, her unbearably gorgeous hair, was down, and adorned with jeweled combs. He _knew what those combs were. His mother had been given them by his Grandmother Davies when she was engaged to his father, and every Davies bride for the past seven generations had worn them at her wedding. That Cho, the girl he could never have, had now been the recipient of them, struck him as decidedly ironic. Even more so because... how beautiful they looked on her... how well they __fit with those jet-black locks. _

And she would probably wear them when she married Diggory. 

He narrowed his eyes, gave both women a curt nod, and rushed back up the stairs. The slamming of his door was heard reverberating through the house a moment later. 

Cecilia winced, and saw that by her side, Cho, her face pale, was hurriedly removing the combs from her hair and re-plaiting the black strands. There was definitely something wrong between the two of them. Wishing fervently that the world was _not as Shakespeare had said and that the course of true love ran smooth, she said softly to the Chinese girl, "Cho, would you like to stay for dinner with us?"_

Cho shook her head numbly, "No... thanks for the offer... but... I-I think I need to be alone for a while." Mechanically putting the present in her purse and fastening her cloak, Cho all but ran out the door and back to Hogwarts. 

That night, Calista found that she was the only Ravenclaw at the Christmas Feast. Cho had shut herself in her room and refused to come out for the evening. _Oh Roger Davies, what have you done to her? the first-year sighed to herself. __She loves you... even if neither of you realize it. Why do you make it so hard for yourselves? Silently, Calista helped herself to Christmas pudding and reflected that it was rather ironic for two Ravenclaws to be having a __BLUE Christmas._

***

Roger had watched her running from his house, stricken pain on her face and the cloak that was far too thin clutched around her.  He stayed by the window as the twilight deepened into darkness.  It was still a few hours to dinner, he reckoned.  He wasn't at all in the mood to get up, though.  Sighing, he ran his hands over the small, square package in his hands.  He was still unsure what had possessed him to spend the greater part of his Christmas money on a pair of tiny, glimmering earrings, but they had nearly screamed Cho's name when he had seen them in the shop while looking for a gift for his mother.  Before he knew what he was about, the earrings were wrapped, paid for, and placed carefully into his coat pocket.

He had put a pretty ribbon on the box, and put it away under his bed with all the other gifts.  Those had been given away this morning, though, and he had two packages left now-the gift from Cho, and his for her.  He hadn't unwrapped the heavy box she had given him, only shoved it into the furthest corner of his closet.  He tried to forget it was there.

There was a soft knock on his door.  Moments later, his mother entered, wiping her hands on her apron and looking concerned.  "Roger?"

"Yes, Mum?" he said, carefully emotionless.

"What's wrong, Roger?"

"Something's wrong, Mum?"

She sighed.  "Roger, I saw how you looked at that girl today."

"What girl, Mum?" he asked nonchalantly, seething inside.

"Do you try to be difficult?" she groaned.

"It comes naturally."  There was a moment of silence.  Then: "You gave her your wedding combs."

"Yes, I did."

"She'll wear them when she marries Cedric Diggory," he responded, his fists clutched around the box in his lap.

Cecilia stood up, shaking her head.  "For a child of mine, you certainly are a fool, Roger.  Dinner in twenty minutes.  Your father's coming home any minute, do try not to spoil the mood."  With that, she was gone.

***

         It became quite obvious to Calista that Cho and Roger had not resolved whatever they were having a disagreement about as the holidays came to an end. Cho stayed in her dormitory, staring into space and idly fingering her braid, books open and unread in her lap. She only came down for the meals that she remembered to have, and when she ate, she simply went through the motions like a machine, in a blank sort of daze. 

Then, Christmas holidays were over and Ravenclaw Tower was once again full of people. Roger returned to Hogwarts, but he did not notice Cho at all beyond the cold nod he gave her in greeting, and an equally cold "Pass the pumpkin juice, please" that night during dinner. Neither Penelope nor Robin nor anyone else tried to mediate between them any more, and only looked at them sadly. Cho herself had given up trying to talk to him. He hated her. And she knew him well enough to understand that on the rare occasion that Roger Davies really, trully decided to hate someone, that unfortunate person would be hated and shunned by him for the rest of both their lives. It was a horrible thought. 

Before long, it was time for Ravenclaw to play Gryffindor. To everyone's surprise, Oliver Wood, who had been glum ever since the defeat by Hufflepuff, practically skipped to breakfast that morning, and soon, Cho and the other Ravenclaws realized why. Harry Potter had found a replacement for the Nimbus that had been destroyed in the game against Hufflepuff. A Firebolt, brand new in all its glory, lay on the Gryffindor table. Cho's jaw dropped. A _professional broom! Well, she would try her best... not like it mattered any more. Even if she managed to win against the odds, Roger would not care a whit. However, she nudged Penelope, who was sitting next to her, and asked if the older girl would go over and take a look at the broom for her. Penelope walked over, talked to Harry for a moment, examined the Firebolt, and allowed Percy to give her a kiss on the cheek before walking back to the Ravenclaw table. Cedric slowly rose from the Hufflepuff table and walked towards Harry as well, congratulating him on getting such a superb replacement for his older broom, and Cho smiled at her friend encouragingly. Draco Malfoy, eyes narrowed and a scowl on his pale face, swaggered over to see if it were really true that his rival now had the best broom in the school. _

Soon, it was time for the game to begin. Cho filed listlessly into the locker room after the rest of her team and pulled on her Quidditch robes. Well, she would play her best and try to win anyway. She would concentrate on her game... and not think of other things. Roger did not discuss tactics with the team, simply told them to try their best in a toneless voice, and minutes later, they were out on the pitch and she had taken the air. 

Harry Potter faced her, big green eyes fixed upon her as if sizing her up, trying to figure out how much of a challenge she would be. She smiled vaguely at him. 

The game began. Cho tuned out the actions of the Chasers, Beaters and Keepers and concentrated on blocking her counterpart while looking for the snitch. Several times, she succeeded in bringing him off-course. He seemed unwilling to run her over or knock her off her broom, much to her surprise. Gryffindor needed to win this game in order to qualify for the final, and she had come into the game fully expecting to be clobbered. Of course, in practices and past games, Roger had always protected her, made sure that she was never hurt, but... well, now, he would probably _thank the Weasley twins to fell her from her broom and render her unconscious. _

At that angry, bitter thought, she shook herself mentally. No, Roger was not that mean. He had a good heart. Well, when he _had a heart at all. She saw Potter going into a dive, and immediately followed, before realizing in a moment that he was simply leading her on and had not seen the Snitch at all. Making a mental note to be more careful, she started looking for the snitch again. Then, all of the sudden, she saw it. Putting a burst of speed onto her broom, she zoomed after it, aware that Potter was right at her heels, on a much-faster broom. Well, she would try her best, and then, she happened to glance down and she screamed. _

Dementors again! Three of them, towering and looking up at them through their hoods, standing on the Quidditch pitch. Harry Potter whipped out his wand and bellowed "Expecto Patronum!", and a silver stag shot from the wand, charging down the hooded figures at the same moment that his hand closed around the snitch. Cho landed, bewildered. Why had there not been screams of "Xiao Yao Nu" and the sting of slaps this time? She heard Professor McGonagall screeching, and saw that the hooded figures were not Dementors after all, but Malfoy, Flint and some other Slytherins. Rolling her eyes at their stupidity, she slowly walked back to her team. They all told her that she did a good job, and that had Potter not had the faster broom, she would have won. Well, most of them. Roger was nowhere to be seen. 

She felt the Gryffindors' eyes on her as she walked off with her team, a dejected figure in small blue robes. They probably thought that she was crushed about her loss. Well, she was slightly disappointed, to be sure, but at that moment, Harry Potter getting the snitch was really the last thing on her mind.

There was very little left to say.  Ravenclaw, now rooting for Gryffindor in the Quidditch Cup, had very little to do but study for their final exams.  Cho and Roger both took to their books with cold, calculated fervor.  Cho now ignored Roger as pointedly as he did her, and made a point of being seen by him with Cedric.  Cedric seemed rather upset about the whole business, but didn't refuse her company.  Penelope was greatly displeased but, being Penelope, knew when a battle wasn't hers to win.  She was therefore silent, waiting for the problem to resolve itself.  Percy didn't like it, but she had gently explained to him that sometimes, little ones had to be allowed to grow up.  He had blustered, but ceased trying to catch Roger after class and give him advice.

Cho ended up tutoring Calista in Charms.  It was he one bad subject, and Calista, being a typical Ravenclaw, could not stand this.  Cho was very relieved when the young girl did not mention Roger at all during their sessions levitating things and making them zoom around the room.

Gryffindor won to the Quiditch Cup, much to the joy of most assembled, and obviously Harry Potter and Oliver Wood, both of whom looked to be walking on air.  Roger caught Oliver dancing a jig down the hall to the Prefects' bathroom the next night, and smiled, very slightly, for the first time in months.  The castle was in a state of fretting over Sirius Black's latest break-in, and Cho spent much of her free time reassuring the younger students.

As the year drew to a close, the silence in the Ravenclaw common room grew to be palpable, and very unpleasant.  The frigid air between Roger and Cho caused everyone else to step softly.  Still, things were bearable.  Soon, the fifth years disappeared into O.W.L.s and the seventh years into N.E.W.T.s.  The others relaxed a bit after this, and yet, everyone was even more relieved than usual when exams went into their last week.

Things happened very quickly then.  Sirius Black was captured and immediately vanished somehow from the highest tower in the place.  Some said that his capture had been fabricated to appease frantic parents.  Harry Potter was in the infirmary, along with his two best friends, and though this wasn't particularly new, as Penelope had to point out to the silently fretting Percy repeatedly, it still worried everyone.  Yet when she suggested he visit his brother, he was adamant that the silly boy had to learn a lesson.  It was rather endearing, really, how much he worried without letting it show.  He was nicknamed a mother hen by her promptly, and she wouldn't desist in calling him that until he threatened her with detention. That was really the only funny part of the thing.

A sigh of relief went through the halls as school got out, and the students boarded the Hogwarts Express.  Cho had owled her parents, saying she would simply take a carriage into Hogsmeade, not wishing for the whole day trip by train and the floo back home, as she usually did.  Roger did the same.  Neither of them realized that both had done it to avoid the other until they were sitting in a carriage along with a cringing and silent Susan Bones, clattering down from Hogwarts towards Hogsmeade.

When they got there, both swished off towards their homes, where their trunks had already been sent by floo, and Cho, after greeting her mother, had settled into a mope which nothing could rouse her from.

She refused to look out of her window and into Roger's, something they had often done in childhood.  In fact, except to run errands, she didn't leave the house at all until her mother got her and her father tickets to the World Cup.  She had gone, rather enjoying the game, but afterwards, she had seen Roger, running around with the Ministry officials, trying to get the helpless Muggles who were being levitated by Death Eaters down.  As she recalled, she had been frightened out of her mind, but a mindless instinct to protect had come into her, and she had rushed in to help.  Roger had picked her up by the shoulders and set her aside, glaring.  "Go home, Chang," he had said.  "This isn't the place for someone like you."  And after that, Cho swore vehemently not to be kind to him again.

Shortly afterwards, she had chopped off her hair in a moment of fury, throwing it into his birdbath, hoping he was as hurt as she was.

And now, flying over her house in lazy circles on her new broom, she had brought the pain back, remembering.

And she still had no idea what she had done wrong.


	8. I Quit

~*Everything You Want*~

Chapter Eight: I Quit

Dove:  We're ba-ack!  Now that the story has hit its halfway point, expect more angst in bucketloads and complications in the form of Fleur, Harry, and all sorts of fun little first years… as always, enjoy, review, and be happy-this chapter was way too long so we cut it in half… you'll probably have another in a few hours!

Thalia: I _SAW Roger and Cho in real life!! __And they're engaged!! And I've been mid-term-ing right and left and front and back.... it's a chaotic existence.... but here's the next chapter of fic for you to enjoy and review!! Roger and Cho... ah well.... we're sadists...._

Disclaimer: If you think that we should own them, that's GREAT!! However, you're not JKR....

_"I got my hands dirty, while you rolled cigarettes, _

_With one eye on the time _

_I tried my hardest, I've been conscientious, _

_But I'm taking back that heart of mine_

_You can't roll me round your tongue no more, baby _

_It's time to clear up your emotional debris_

_And if I'm falling overboard, please don't save me... _

_'Cause I'm telling you now..._

_I quit! I quit! 'Cause loving you's a job I don't need _

_Ain't__ gonna go to work no more…_

_I quit! I quit! Your situation's vacant for me _

_Ain't__ gonna go to work no more, ain't gonna go to work no more, _

_Ain't__ gonna go to work..."_

-Hepburn, "I Quit"

For the first time since she started Hogwarts, Cho found herself standing alone on Platform Nine-and-three quarters. Roger, stony-faced, stood about thirty feet away and he had pointedly turned his back towards her, talking with sixth year Ravenclaw Zachary Turpin, one of the chasers on their Quidditch team. Now and then, Zach would glance over Roger's shoulder, giving Cho surprised and commiserating glances. Try though she might, Cho couldn't help but look towards Roger's oblivious back every now and then. Annoyed with herself for such a lack of self-control, she started scanning the platform for something to distract herself with. 

"Cho?!" A shrill voice reached her ears. Cho winced. This was not quite the distraction she had been looking for.

"Hello, Cassandra, Melissa." Cho sighed. _Let the interrogation begin..._

"You cut your hair!" Melissa squealed. Cho rolled her eyes.

"Very astute observation."

"It looks so much better this way." Cassandra said, in a mincing, "I'm-one-of-the-most-fashionable-girls-in-school" voice, "So much more sophisticated, less childish. You look marvelous, darling..."

Cho's poker face was firmly in place, and she remained stonily silent. At that moment, the train arrived, and she immediately picked up her trunk and walked briskly into a compartment. Unfortunately, Cassandra and Melissa followed right at her heels, and were both sitting in the compartment before she could slam the door in their impertinent faces.

"You should have cut your hair ages ago, it was way too long." Cassandra continued, twirling one of her own curled blonde locks with one manicured finger, "I mean, with hair _that long, there's absolutely nothing you can do to style it that won't make it look utterly medieval. That braid you used to wear it in, that might have looked okay on a child, but on a young lady, it looked positively juvenile..." So Cassandra did have a vocabulary after all. It was a pity that she only used it when talking about hair. "However, now, you can do so much more with it... if you'd like, I'll curl it for you tonight, you'll look gorgeous."_

"No thank you," Cho managed to speak out between clenched teeth. "And I do _not look marvelous."_

"Oh, but you do." Melissa grinned, "So, what made you decide to cut it at long last?"

Cho smiled icily.  "If I told you," she replied calmly, "I'd have to kill you."

There was a tangible silence.  Cassandra's jaw dropped at the audacity, and Melissa blinked and said, "Oh."

Before Cho could be treated to a slew of uncomfortable questions, Penelope stuck her head into the compartment, Head Girl badge gleaming.  She quickly took survey of the situation and decided Cho needed rescuing.  "Cho!" she exclaimed.  "I need to talk to you about... that... cat!"

Cho looked baffled for only a second before jumping up.  "The cat!  How _could I forget!  I'm coming!"  Then she sped out of the compartment and shut the door behind her.  "Thanks.  I was in dire straits."_

Penelope nodded.  "I thought so."  She looked at Cho then, really looked, and her eyes widened.  "Your _hair!"_

Cho sighed.  "Yes.  My hair.  Is gone.  Can we stop talking about this?"

Penelope recognized a touchy subject.  "Of course.  It looks nice.  By the way, have you figured out why those dolts are in Ravenclaw yet?"

Cho, distracted, grinned.  "Nope.  Airheads."

"Well, what do you say we go and get another compartment, where the people inside are a bit less stupid?" Penny said casually. Cho nodded.

The two girls walked together and slid the door of the next compartment open. Cho peered inside, and saw Arnold Derrick, the Slytherin Beater, leering back at her. She quickly slid the door shut, ignoring the hoots and catcalls coming from Derrick and his cronies, and strode into the next one, Penny right behind her.  

"Roger!" Penny greeted the occupant of that compartment. Cho grimaced. So much for a compartment with someone less stupid, her luck was just horrible today. She resolutely stared at her shoes, refusing to look at him, quite uncomfortably aware of his eyes fixed on her shorn head. _Probably disgusted. she thought, then wondered why she cared._

"Penny." Roger greeted the Head Girl coolly. "What is _she doing here?"_

Before Cho could snap out in indignation for his rudeness, Penny cleared her throat and looked pointedly at Roger, "She's with me. Are you going to kick us out?"

Roger thinned his lips. He wanted nothing more than to do just that, to take Cho, and her lopped off hair, and the reminder of her broken promises and her affair with Diggory and everything else that had made the past several months hell for him... away. But he couldn't bring himself to throw her out, and moreover, he really couldn't make Penny leave without any good reason. "Stay if you like, just leave me alone."

"It's not like we _want to talk to you anyway." Cho muttered, narrowing her eyes wrathfully._

"Of course not, you would do anything to be with Diggory right now, wouldn't you?" Roger sneered at the younger girl. "Can't wait 'til he whisks you off to the Astronomy Tower tonight, eh?"

"Quiet! Both of you!!!" Penny stood up between the other two, and glared at both of them, "For Merlin's sake, _GROW UP!! Stop this infantile bickering this instant, or I'll give both of you detentions!!"_

Cho rolled her eyes slightly, "I think Percy's a bad influence on you, Penny."

Roger laughed before he could help himself, then tried unsuccessfully to hide it with a cough. Scowling at the two girls and angry with himself for letting his control slip again, he retreated into icy silence for the remainder of the trip.

Cho would indeed have rather been anywhere else, preferably with a good friend like Ced.  She knew, however, from his latest owl that he would be coming late this year due to some family function, using the floo to come into Hogsmeade in the evening.  Hadn't she warned her mother to let him through their house so he wouldn't have to pay the public floo station?  Therefore, her only real friend on the train was Penelope, and since Penelope was in this compartment... well, silence from Roger was better than questions from her roommates, anyway.  And that was that. 

She pulled a small book from her cloak pocket and muttered over it with her wand until it returned to its normal gargantuan proportions.  She had taken to shrinking her O.W.L. preparation book so that she could take it anywhere over the summer.  In her home, magic was allowed as long as one of her parents was in the room, strictly for scholastic purposes.  Therefore, Cho was already halfway through the book.  She had promised herself to read through it at least five times this year, until she knew the contents backwards and forwards. 

Roger had gotten _nearly perfect O.W.L.s two years ago, and that just meant she'd need a __perfect score. _

She opened to the Charms section and began to relocate things in the room, change their color and size, and generally make a wonderfully magical mess.  The entire time, her spells were whispered so softly that the silence of the compartment was barely stirred, and in her concentration, she was unaware of Roger watching her with grudging admiration on his face. 

Once she was tired, she switched to studying Potions ingredients.  About then the witch with the snack trolley came by.  Cho was concentrating too hard to pay much mind to her, but Penny shoved some food into her lap shortly thereafter, and Cho ate mechanically, mentally repeating the magical properties of rosemary. 

About an hour before they would reach the station, Cho put away her book, and began to hack away at her personal project-the Patronus Charm.  After seeing Roger do it, and then Harry Potter, despite the latter being younger than her, she had resolved to learn it.  What she hadn't expected was the blistering headache she got from trying without any precedent, or the fact that even her new Advanced Charms book was rather vague on how, exactly, it was made to work.  She feared, deep down, that there were simply no memories happy enough for her to achieve it, especially now.  Nothing but a faint silver cloud came from her wand, and that had taken nearly a month to create over the summer.  She kept trying, but nothing came of it. 

When the train slowed, Cho shrunk her book, put it away, and stood.  "Come on, Penny," she said, smiling at the other girl and ignoring the other inhabitant of the room completely.  "Help me slip by those silly girls again, will you?"  Then, she flounced out, or tried to, on shaky legs.  Penelope sighed and followed.

Roger watched quietly as she walked out, leaning slightly on Penelope. Cho was slightly pale, the Patronus Charm that she had been trying to master took a lot out of one, after all. It was ironic that she was trying to cast it now. Last year at this time, they were still friends. Sharing a compartment. Facing the Dementors together. Him watching her sleep, her long braid shimmering in the sunlight. Was it just a year ago? Time seemed to drag on these days. Oh well, school would start. He would be busy with Prefect duties and Quidditch and N.E.W.T.s to study for. Maybe... just maybe, he wouldn't have time to think about Cho. 

With such thoughts in mind, he entered the Great Hall, forcing himself not to look at Cho as she sat down with Penny at the other end of the Ravenclaw table. Several other people had remarked on her shortened hair, asking her where it went. She simply pressed her lips together and did not answer. Roger wondered if anyone knew that it was sitting in a drawer in his desk, side by side with the Christmas gift that he had never given her, still in its box. He had not even realized that he had taken those shorn locks inside until he had reached his room, and looked down to see them clutched in his fist. Jet-black, damp silky strands. Lifeless. Severed as cruelly as their friendship had been. Perhaps another, more practical man, in his shoes might have been angry and set her hair on fire, burnt it to ashes so that it would disappear and there would not remain any painful reminders. But for some reason, he had not the heart to do something that felt so sacrilegious.

As usual, Dumbledore started to make announcements after the sorting and before the feast. Roger half-heartedly listened as he forbade students from wandering into the Forbidden Forest, etc. And then, the Headmaster made an announcement that caused him to sit bolt upright. No Quidditch?!

Just as Roger was about to jump up and demand why, when Dumbledore answered his question.  "This is due to an event that will be starting in October and continuing throughout the school year, taking up much of the teachers' time and energy-but I am sure you will all enjoy it immensely.  I have great pleasure in announcing that this year at Hogwarts-"

Just then, there was a crash of lightning, the doors flew open, and a frightening figure entered, walking in silently except the clunk that echoed at every other step as he limped across the Great Hall towards the professors' table and Albus Dumbledore.

Roger was familiar with the man.  He had met him years ago, when his father had taken him to a day of work in the Ministry one summer, a crash course in reality, he called it.  Alastor Moody had come into the office for only about ten minutes, but a face like that was difficult to forget.  Roger remembered, and even so, he winced a bit when the light hit his face and illuminated the disfigured, scarred surface.  He heard (and pretended not to notice) Cho take in a shaky breath.

The former Auror said something to Dumbledore, sat down, and speared a sausage with his pocket knife.  A shudder went through the room as one of his eyes moved around the room, Never still, while the other stayed focused on the food.  The silence was deafening.

Dumbledore appeared not to notice the general consensus of disgust.  He smiled brightly.  "May I introduce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?"  Silence.  "Professor Moody."

Silence greeted the declaration.  Dumbledore cleared his throat and spoke again.  "As I was saying, we are to have the honor of hosting a very exciting event over the coming months, an event that has not been held for over a century.  It is my great pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year."

"You're _JOKING!" shouted a boy at the Gryffindor table.  One of the Weasley twins, though Roger had no clue which one._

Everyone began to laugh, and Roger let himself drift away and daydream.  The Triwizard tournament... he had read about it in History of Magic, of course, and been fascinated.  He could be Hogwarts champion... he could be a hero!  Famous, admired by all... Cho's admiration would have to come back to him.  Not that he cared for her at all, of course, but it would be satisfying.

Dumbledore went on to explain the rules.  The cutoff age was no problem.  Roger was sure he could do it now.  The prize money would be the icing on the cake.  Oh, he could be everything, he could have everything... and maybe the gaping hole inside his heart would heal.  Or at least, maybe he would be too busy to notice it.

Or so he hoped.

Cho saw Roger's eyes light up at the mention of the Triwizard Tournament. Not that she was watching him, of course! But a frown came, unbidden, to settle upon her forehead. Did the daft git actually want to try out for that tournament? What for?! Glory? Money? Were those really so important? More important than, say, staying alive? Why was he even considering this? And for that matter, why did she care? No, she didn't! Really! He could try out for the bloody tournament and have girls hanging all over him like a lionized hero and... and... she didn't care a whit! Hmph!

However, it was a very pensive Cho that walked back to Ravenclaw Tower that evening. Filled with a worry and a vague sense of pain that she did not understand, she sat at her favorite window seat, gazing out towards the sky with a faraway expression on her face. At that moment, the portrait hole opened once more, and she looked up to see Calista, Glenda, Una, Alice and Helen, now-second-year Ravenclaw girls, smiling at her, each of them carrying a pie in her hands.   

Normally, something of this nature would have made Cho ecstatic, but right now, though happy and touched, she felt an odd sort of... wrongness... about the whole picture. Nevertheless, she smiled at the girls, and took to slicing the pies. Absorbed in making identical slices for everyone, she didn't notice Roger watching her, a wistful look on his face. 

Roger watched as she smiled and cut pie for those younger girls. He couldn't really help himself. The Charms text in his lap seemed to fade into nothingness as he took in the scene by the window. Cho bending over the second-years with a smile, her face half-hidden by the shorter hair. He had an urge to go over and brush the hair behind her ears. He watched as she beckoned for Orla Quirke, Stewart Ackerley, and the other new first years to join them. She was so good with those children. Easygoing, yet setting a good example. She would make a great mother someday. Wait, what was he thinking?! He shook his head to clear the horrifying image of Cho, Cedric and little Diggory tots that had sprang unbidden into his head. At that moment, he felt a light tap on his shoulder. 

Looking up, he saw that girl, Glenda, holding out a plate with a steaming slice of strawberry pie in her small hands, looking at him with a slightly bashful expression. "Here, Mr. Davies... sir... have some... pie."

Had he not feared that he would scare the girl and all the other occupants of the common room into thinking that he had finally lost his mind, Roger would have laughed, long and bitter, and the irony of the situation. He heard a loud clink, and jerked his head in the direction of the sudden sound. 

Cho's fork had fallen onto her plate from her nerveless fingers. She had sprung up and away from her own pie, as if the pastry had burnt her. Her eyes met his for one anguished moment, and they seemed to fill with tears. Then, she looked away, face white, and perfunctorily opened her Transfiguration book, backing away from her seat and the confused first and second years with her head bowed. Moving to a far corner of the room, she sat down shakily and bowed her head over the book. She stayed there, frozen, for a long time. 

Orla Quirke, confused, turned toward Calista and asked in a whisper, "What's the matter with her?"

"See that boy that Glenda just gave the pie to? That's Roger Davies; he's a Prefect and Quidditch captain. Cho's our Seeker. She and Roger were friends until they fell in love with each other, now they're not speaking to each other any more."

"I thought that people in love were supposed to be happy!" Orla mumbled. Calista shrugged. 

"Not around here they're not. Don't worry, you'll get used to it, and they'll come to their senses someday." Calista smiled reassuringly at the first-year, "We _are Ravenclaws, after all."_


	9. Is It Really That Great Without Me

~*Everything You Want*~

Chapter Nine: Is It All That Great Without Me

Thalia: Two chapters in a row! DA-AMN we're good!! *raises the ubiquitous "ph34r us" sign*. In which chapter.... Cho starts showing somewhat Rogerian tendencies and gets jealous... heh! We all know they're meant for each other...

Dove: Have we mentioned that Fleur is here to make a mess of things?  As the official Fleur Fanfiction Goddess, I can't wait to utilize her here… this makes you wonder if just beating them over the head might be easier.  Really.

Disclaimer: Someday, we'll convince you we don't own Harry potter.  Probably.

_"Is it all that great without me_

_I really want to know_

_Was it easy to forget me_

_Cause your eyes are saying no_

_Did you find a broken rainbow_

_With an empty pot of gold_

_Well if it's all that great without me_

_Then I'm glad you let me go_

_I don't mean to sound so vengeful_

_Or to hit you when you're down_

_But you took my house of dreams_

_And burnt it to the ground…"_

-Evan & Jaron – "Is It All That Great Without Me"

Cho discovered in classes the next day that her workload was to be unbearable.  "You are to be taking the O.W.L.s at the end of the year," Professor Flitwick informed the fifth year Ravenclaws in their morning Advanced Charms class.  "As Ravenclaws, both your parents and I expect top performances out of you this year.  To achieve these results, we will be adding extra two-hour applied magic sessions after dinner on Wednesdays.  You are free to come and review for your O.W.L.s.  You are not required to attend, although I thoroughly recommend that you do so."  He smiled.  "I'm sure you will not disappoint us."

It was much the same in every class she had that week, except Defense Against the Dark Arts.  "I was told to beat into your heads that you need top O.W.L. scores," Professor Moody growled as he entered the room, limping a bit on his fake leg.  "Consider your heads beaten if you like, since I'm not going to mention those useless tests again."

The class gave a unified gasp of horror.  After all, insulting the O.W.L.s was rather like insulting the Ministry, who required them.  Besides that, as Ravenclaws, tests were something of a holy ground.

"It's dark times we're in," Professor Moody continued.  "Dark times, and it is possible, even probable, not everyone in this room will live until graduation."

Back in the corner, Cassandra of the delicate nerves sniffled a little.  She did seem genuinely upset.  Due, however, to her ubiquitous histrionics caused by absolutely nothing, no one paid attention except Melissa.  "Professor, you're going to give Cassandra nightmares," Melissa piped up.

"She's a big girl, Miss... Trenton," he said, consulting his roll sheet.  "Now, you can sit down and listen, or you can leave."

Melissa sat.

"War isn't a friendly business," the teacher continued.  "In order to make sure more of you survive to talk about it, we're going to work on offensive tactics because, as you Quidditch players say, offense is the best form of defense.  Now, get up and move the desks aside..."

By the end of this class, everyone sported a few bruises and held a petrified sort of respect for Professor Moody.

Except trying to master this new form of learning, nothing very interesting happened, except the announcement that the delegations from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang would be arriving on Halloween.  The school was abuzz, wondering what they and the tournament would be like.  Sarah Fawcett and Henry Vanderhoff were often seen with heads bowed conspiratorially together over sheaves of parchment too messy to be notes.

"Trying to enter the tournament," Penelope sighed to Cho one night as they sat helping the first year girls with their impossible Defense Against the Dark Arts homework.  "I _know exactly what they're doing, but I can't seem to get them to come to their senses."_

Cho was tired from her O.W.L. practice session-it was Wednesday, after all-but quite cheerful as she worked alongside Penelope.  "Are you entering, Penny?" she asked, making alterations in an essay on the subject of basilisks.  "That's a toad, not a frog, Orla," she said, pointing about halfway down.  "Otherwise, this part's all right.  You'll have to redo the next part, though, because that's just a theory at this point... Professor Moody won't accept it."  Handing the essay back, she turned expectantly to Penelope.  "Well?"

"No, I'm not."

"Roger Davies will," Orla piped up.  "He's the reckless one."

"Let's not discuss Roger Davies," Cho said, lips thinning.

Alison Crisp, another first year, sighed.  "But you said he didn't matter anyway, and, besides-"

_"HE DOESN'T MATTER!"  Ignoring the startled looks from the rest of the common room, Cho stomped off to bed._

"Nice going," Calista muttered from across the room.

"Smooth," Orla shook her head.  "She wasn't even finished with my essay."

Penny sighed as she watched the fifth year Chinese girl storm away to her dormitory. "I'll look at your essay, Orla. Just remember the cardinal rules of Ravenclaw Tower. Firstly, you don't ever slack off on your studies. Secondly, you don't ever hurt someone maliciously. Thirdly, you don't ever mention Roger Davies and Cho Chang's names to each other."

"What's this about me?" Roger walked into the common room, back from Prefect duties. Several people noticed how he quickly glanced at Cho's usual seat by the window, then clench his jaw almost imperceptibly. Penny shrugged.

"Nothing. I was just about to look at Orla's Defense Against the Dark Arts essay. What was it on?" she asked Orla.

"Basilisks." the first year girl answered promptly. Penny winced, remembering a pair of murderous yellow eyes her fifth year, then darkness...

Roger, who had heard this exchange, stepped forward, "Say, Penelope, why don't you go and help out Terry Boot on his Ancient Runes translation, I'll look at her essay, I'm better at Defense than languages, anyway."

Penny smiled gratefully, "All right, thank you, Roger." Under her breath, she muttered, "Now, why can't you be this considerate to the girl who loves you? Men!"

Roger sat down in the middle of the group of first and second year students, somewhat surprised to see them looking at him in an almost idolizing manner. He picked up Orla's essay and began to read.

A while later, he looked at her, "Well, this essay is very good overall, Orla. This part, though is mere speculation at this point, so you cannot include it as if it were a fact." Patiently, he started explaining the concepts to Orla, as the others listened carefully.

In her dormitory, Cho cursed inwardly. She had left the book on Patroni that she had gotten from the library in the common room. Now, it would have been no big deal for the most part, but the book was due back tomorrow and she still had a chapter to read. Now, she had to go back and likely face a lot of strange looks from the younger students. And of course, she would have to apologize to Orla for not finishing looking over her essay.

Quietly, she descended the staircase that led to the common room. She looked inside, and her eyes widened. Roger had taken the seat that she had vacated, and was patiently explaining Orla's assignment to her. He was even smiling slightly. He smiled so rarely nowadays. Cho's heart leapt up for a moment, then dropped back down like a stone. Her book lay right next to him.

Roger smiled at the first-year girl. She was quite the quick learner of Defense Against the Dark Arts once she got the hang of it. Now, she was scribbling furiously over her essay, and Roger was fairly sure that it would even be up to Professor Moody's standards. Then, he felt a prickling sensation at the back of his neck. Someone was watching him. 

He looked up, and immediately, the smile vanished from his face. Cho Chang walked towards him, her face blank and stony. The young students around him quieted immediately, and an awkward silence filled the air.

"I came to get my book." Cho said tonelessly, gesturing the leather-bound tome next to him. He shrugged, his face as stony as hers.

"Be my guest." Cho walked up to the couch and bent over to retrieve the volume. Her shortened hair fell forward over her shoulders, and quite accidentally, brushed the side of his face. He flinched as if in pain, and moved away.

Cho grabbed her book and stalked away without a backwards glance.

Orla found her tutor taciturn and terse for the rest of the evening. She glanced around the room at the still-conspiring Fawcett and Vanderhoff.

"Oh, why can't they go and plot something useful for once, like how to lock Roger and Cho into a room until they snog or something?" she whispered to Calista.

"Robin Harrison tried that last year, locking them in the broomshed after Quidditch practice until they could talk out what was wrong. Cho wouldn't speak to him for a week afterwards, and Roger chased him around the pitch waving his Beater's club in one hand and his wand in the other and threatening to turn him into a duck-billed platypus before concussing him. No one's tried it since." Calista whispered back.

The younger students sighed collectively.

***

Soon it was time for the foreign students to arrive.

Halloween was rather an interesting time to choose for it, Roger thought. Then again, he had been finding the small ironies in life more and more frequently lately. As they stood in a crowd outside, looking around and wondering when and where the students would appear, and how they would get here.

A second year girl, whose name Roger recalled as being Calista, expressed the opinion that they would fly. 

"But it's _cold!" chorused most of the younger girls. _

"Not on broomsticks," she said. 

"A flying carpet?" 

"That would be just as cold," someone pointed out. 

"Not a carpet, either," Calista shook her head, musing almost to herself. "But maybe a-"

_"LOOK!" A flying coach had arrived. People looked at the quiet Calista with more respect._

Roger didn't pay much attention after this, because he caught a conversation going on behind him as the French students exited the coach. "Yes, he _is really good-looking. But Roger Davies looks better."_

"We all know that, Cassandra." Ah, the silly fifth year girls. "But Roger is..."

"Yes, isn't he? The French boy shows more promise..."

Behind them a few rows, Cho heard also, and seethed.

Roger Davies was _not that good looking! All right, she admitted to herself, all __right, maybe he was.  Maybe he was beautiful. Maybe he made girls turn incoherent with one gaze. __MAYBE. But he was still an unreasonable, temperamental prat. A beautiful, unreasonable, temperamental prat..._

Growling at the direction of her thoughts, she turned her attention to the arriving delegation from Durmstrang. The Hogwarts students turned towards the lake, where a skeletal ship was slowly rising out of the swirling, turbulent waters. The ship rowed to shore, dropped anchor, and came to a halt, and the Durmstrang students, led by a sleazy-looking Headmaster, filed out.

One student, a grim-looking boy with a slouching posture and shuffling gait caught Cho's attention. She looked closer, and gasped. Nor was she the only one to do so. A slight distance away from her, she heard the youngest Weasley boy exclaim to Harry Potter and that girl, Hermione, the boy's name.

He was, quite unmistakably, Viktor Krum!

In front of her, Cassandra and Melissa had abruptly ceased the argument about Roger's good looks when they realized who he was, and immediately started gushing about the young foreign celebrity instead, wondering if he would sign their hats in lipstick and whatnot. The topic of Roger was no longer mentioned.

Cho decided that Viktor Krum was a very nice sort of fellow to have around.

After greetings and introductions, the Hogwarts students, followed by the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang representatives, filed back into the castle for the feast. The Durmstrang students went ahead and sat down at the Slytherin table, and the Beauxbatons students, after looking around, walked towards their table. Cho didn't pay much attention.

Then, she felt a tap on her shoulder, "Excuse me, may I sit 'ere?"

She looked up to see a tall French boy with light brown hair and a lopsided smile, the same boy that had been deemed to "show promise" by her silly roommates. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Cassandra nodding at her frantically, her eyes begging Cho to allow the boy to sit so that they could fawn over him.

"All right." She moved over, giving the boy room to sit next to her. He thanked her, then introduced himself.

"My name eez Philippe Carsairs, and 'oom do I 'ave ze 'onor of speaking to?"

"Cho, Cho Chang." she replied laconically. She saw Cassandra and Melissa make their way over, almost-predatory looks on their faces. "And those two are Cassandra Feldman and Melissa Trenton. They're my roommates, and they're quite interested in your school." Okay, maybe that was a bit abrupt, but could she help it if she was not really in the mood for making small talk and it was obvious that those other two were just dying to meet the fellow? She saw Cassandra flirtatiously toss her curled head and rolled her eyes and turned to her food. And then, a moment later, the arrival of someone else at her table caused her to set her fork down and stare.

Roger's eyes had narrowed as he watched Cho make way for the French boy to sit down beside her. Good Merlin, wasn't Diggory enough?! The French bloke sat down with a big smile on his face, and the ease of someone who was quite used to pretty girls fawning over him. _He better not hurt her, or I will personally rip him apart... he thought automatically, before stopping himself. He didn't care. Really! Goodness, he needed to find some sort of distraction._

One showed up a moment later, walking towards him. A Beauxbatons girl about his age with a beauty too unearthly to be human: tall, statuesque figure, flawless skin, perfectly even features and a mane of lustrous blonde hair. She strode over to where he was sitting, and asked, in a melodious if slightly imperious voice, "May I sit down 'ere?"

He looked at her for a moment. She was quite stunningly beautiful. Even though her lustrous hair was too light. Even though the brilliant eyes were blue rather than brown and held a look too worldly. Even though her satiny voice sounded like it had never burst into a spontaneous fit of laughter in her life. Even though her elegant bearing was too proud and majestic. But at least, she was a distraction. He nodded and made room for her. "Hullo, I'm Roger Davies."

"Fleur Delacour." she held out a hand and shook his briefly.

"It's nice to meet you. Welcome to Hogwarts." Soon, they struck up a conversation about their favorite classes, and Roger found out that this girl shared his affinity for Charms. Soon, they were having a lively conversation about Charms theory, and he found out that the regal Fleur was actually quite smart under the queenly demeanor. And, she kept his mind busy enough with questions and statements that he didn't even think about anything else... much. 

Cho watched as the elegant, strikingly beautiful blonde girl looked around the Ravenclaw table appraisingly for a moment before her eyes landed on Roger. Gracefully, she made her way over, and in a mellifluous, French-accented voice, she asked if she could sit next to him. Roger graciously agreed and moved to make room for her.

And Cho Chang, for the first time in her life, found herself irrationally hating someone on sight.


	10. He Doesn't See Me

~*Everything You Want*~

Chapter Ten: He Doesn't See Me

Dove: We're back!  The songbit is long this time… kinda couldn't cut any of it, though.  This chapter is a nice balance between angst and humor, with the beginning of the "Cho's with Ced" rumors and a good healthy dose of Fleur because we love her!  Also, mentions of Gaby, Lethifolds, and much Hufflepuff jealousy.  Cho and Roger are both being simply cruel to each other, and we all just laugh…

Thalia: We have Cho throwing hissy fits!  How fun!!  Well, perhaps not for the persons involved… but very fun for immorally cruel authors, at any rate. *laughs evilly*  I personally think that Cho and Roger should be hit with large squeaky mallets until they pay attention, but _our_ way is just as fun! And less squeaky…

Disclaimer: If you try to smite us with the Hammer of Justice and sue, we shall retaliate by slaughtering you with the Machine Gun of Anarchy.

_"She has a way that surrounds her_

_So delicate_

_And a glory that reigns_

_In her life_

_She is also so much_

_That she is not_

_There's things they don't see_

_And he doesn't see me_

_And he_

_Doesn't see me_

_There are things we can change_

_If we just choose to fight_

_But the walls of injustice are high_

_When he passes me by_

_He's a ray of light_

_Like the first drop of sun from the sky_

_And I know he's a king_

_Who deserves a queen_

_But I'm not a queen_

_So he doesn't see me…"_

-Sarah Brightman, "He Doesn't See Me"

Everyone was buzzing with excitement after the feast as they made their way to the common room. Cassandra and Melissa were twittering away like two particularly irksome birds about the foreign students, gushing about Viktor Krum, the French boy Philippe, and Fleur Delacour, the beautiful French girl who had sat with Roger during the feast.

"Really, she and Roger Davies would be so stunning together. She has this _air..." Melissa was saying as she smoothed some sort of facial cream onto her cheeks. Cassandra nodded in agreement._

"Yes, they would be such a lovely couple. She's so fair and angelic-looking; he's so dark and handsome. It would be perfect! Don't you think, Cho?"

"No! Go Away!" came a muffled voice from Cho's bed, where the curtains were tightly closed. Cassandra gasped.

"What's the matter with you, Cho?"

No answer came from Cho's bed. Cassandra shrugged and turned to Melissa again, "I wonder if Fleur will tell me what sort of shampoo she uses."

Cho fumed as she lay in her bed, the navy blue curtains matching her dark, melancholy mood. One hand was idly fingering her own, cropped, hair. They knew nothing about Fleur! For all they knew, she might be a horrible person! Just because she was beautiful... Cho glowered, aware that she was being unfair, but unable to stop her train of thought. Besides, Fleur and Roger would _not make a good couple! They just couldn't! They didn't even go to the same school! Fleur knew nothing about him, nor he of her! Fleur didn't understand him like..._

Wait...why did she even care? Roger bloody Davies could go and snog Fleur in the Astronomy Tower every night for aught she cared! 

At the mental image of Roger and Fleur, kissing each other, wrapped in each other's arms, Cho buried her face in her pillow and burst into tears.

***

            The next morning, Cho was late to breakfast.  The only unoccupied seat was kitty-corner from Fleur Delacour, having just been vacated by an adoring swain who had run off to the Slytherin table to look for something for her.  Cho sighed and considered skipping breakfast.  She caught Penelope's eye, and Penny looked at her sternly, as though she knew exactly what Cho was thinking.  Cho sighed and sat down to discover a lively conversation on the topic of Lethifolds, of all things.

            "Ah, oui, ma soeur, she met one last year when we were on 'oliday in Brazil," Fleur was saying, gesturing gracefully with one hand.  "She 'as only just turned eight, you know… Maman and I 'ad to chase 'er-she 'ad wandered off one morning… last time we leave a broomstick on ze balcony…"

            The table at large giggled and tittered.  "What then?" asked the fascinated Terry Boot.

            Fleur shrugged.  "Well, you know, Maman cast a locating spell and we charged into ze jungle after 'er, screaming like Amazons…" she blused a bit.  "We found 'er a few minutes later, standing in a clearing, facing down one of zose… _creatures."_

Everyone shuddered.  "Did you get it?" Mandy Brocklehurst asked curiously.

"Maman lost 'er voice in fear," Fleur said, lowering her pitch to make the story more exciting.  "I didn't know quite what to do at first, and Gabrielle was just looking at ze Lezifold… and it wasn't moving.  Just 'ung in ze air, silent, as she looked up at it."

"What happened, what happened?" squealed an overly excited Stewart Ackerly.

Fleur shrugged.  "I remembered zat ze Patronus Charm will drive it away," she said, somewhat pompously.  "Charms is my best subject-ze 'Eadmaster 'ere, 'e told madame Maxime I will not 'ave much to learn in zat class zis year."  She took a delicate bite of the apple that a completely entranced Henry Vanderhoff was peeling and slicing for her, and Cho rolled her eyes.  This girl had a self-centered streak a mile wide.  "So, ze Lezifold went away, and if you will believe, Gabrielle told us she 'ad been ''andling it just fine on my own.'  Zat child, she is impertinent."  She ate another slice of apple.  "Zey are very frightening, ze Lezifolds.  I feel faint around zem.  But not as bad as Dementors."  She shuddered delicately.

"We had Dementors here last year!" Zachary Turpin said, his eyes glazed and looking proud of himself for having said the right thing.

His sister Lisa sneered.  "Honestly, Zackie, you're drooling on your food.  You don't talk about Dementors if you can avoid it, you git."  Cho smiled widely at Lisa.

Fleur ignored Lisa's jibe, and concluded her story, "Zat was my first time to evair 'ave to cast ze charm, and I 'ope it will be ze last. My Patronus is in ze form of a unicorn, really quite magnificent. What types of Patroni do all of _you 'ave?"_

Silence all around the table. Fleur looked around expectantly, but no one would meet her eyes. Cho seethed. Okay, so the chit was bloody gorgeous and knew how to cast a Patronus Charm. So?! She was vain and self-absorbed and Roger... 

"Mine is an eagle." Speak of the devil. The fallen angel whose beautiful face hid his cruel heart. But the French girl smiled becomingly at Roger as he approached, and made room for him right beside her. 

"Oh, 'ow suitable. It is ze emblem for your 'ouse, is it not? And when did you find out what form it 'as?"

Roger's eyes suddenly grew cold. "I... there was a Dementor on the train last year, and I was trying to protect a fr-others in my vicinity." His voice indicated that this topic, as far as he was concerned, was now firmly closed. "So, what have you lot been up to this morning?"

"Well, of course, my schoolmates and I 'ave just submitted our names to ze Goblet of Fire. I understand zat ze results will be in shortly."

Roger nodded, "Yes. Chang?" Cho's head snapped up. This was the first time that he had directly addressed her since that day that she had cut her hair over the summer.

"What do you want, Davies?"

"Your boyfriend, Diggory," here Roger made a face of mild disgust, "just submitted his name in the Goblet. You should go and wish him luck."

Cho's eyes blazed.  "I've told you a million times and I'll tell you again, so get it through your thick head, Davies.  Cedric.  Is.  _Not-"  Suddenly, she stopped, and looked at Roger oddly.  "You know, as a matter of fact, I think I will.  Oh Ce-ed!"  With this singsong battlecry, she stood and headed for the Hufflepuff table._

Roger looked quite put-out, and Cassandra began collecting money.  "Pay up, people.  I _knew we had the right idea about her and Diggory!"_

A disgusted Penelope forked over a Galleon, but looked thoughtfully over towards the Hufflepuffs.  Cho was welcomed into their midst quickly.

A feminine scream was heard from outside the doors.  "That'd be Sarah," Henry shook his head.  "I helped her, but apparently not well enough."

Penelope grimaced.  "You're an idiot, Henry.  Shame to the Ravenclaw reputation."

He smiled widely.  "What do you mean, _I'm an idiot?  I didn't try!  That was Fawcett's game, anyway!"_

Zachary grinned wickedly at Henry.  "Shall we go see if we can get her photo and blackmail her afterwards?"

The two boys, no longer under Fleur's charm (for she was dispensing it lavishly upon Roger now) vanished in a flash.

Roger forcibly tore his eyes away from Cho, who was sauntering towards the Hufflepuff table without a backward glance. Belatedly, he noticed that Fleur was addressing him.

"'Oo is she?"

"Cho Chang. Diggory's girlfriend." Roger snapped out between gritted teeth. Fleur seemed to mistake his anger, and laid an elegant hand on his arm.

"She seems to 'ave a razzer short tempair. But no worries, she is not _your girlfriend; you don't 'ave to deal wis 'er."_

She smiled at him, and said soothingly, almost hypnotically, "Let 'er boyfriend deal wis 'er; sink of ozer sings."

Cho had managed to greet Ced, ask whether he was daft for entering such a dangerous tournament, and wish him luck before a chance glance at the Ravenclaw table made her shut up mid-sentence.

"The shameless hussy!" she hissed aloud before she could stop herself. Cedric looked at her curiously.

"I've heard some fairly unpleasant stories, but I didn't know you hated your roommates _that much."_

"No... not my roommates.... _HER!" Cho pointed at the silvery-blonde head perched nauseatingly close to Roger's dark one. Cedric glanced at Fleur for a moment._

"She's one of the Beauxbatons students, isn't she? I thought I saw her and the rest of her classmates submitting their names in the Goblet of Fire."

"Look at them! It's bloody sick-making! She doesn't even _know him, and she already wants to get him to __shag her!" Cho didn't even hear a word he was saying, "Isn't it enough that she's got every bloody male in this school simpering and doing menial labor for her like a bunch of blasted house-elves, but she needs to __get one of them as well?!"_

Cedric gave her a deep, searching look, "If I didn't know better, I'd say that you're jealous."

"Jealous?!? _Why should I be jealous of __HER?! She's self-centered and vain! She's an insolent tease! Don't be daft. I'm __not jealous!"_

Cedric raised his hands in surrender, knowing very well the saying about an angry woman and knowing especially well about an angry Cho Chang.  "Of course not," he said soothingly.  "Whatever you say, Cho."

Cho glared at him, but didn't push the subject.  Instead, she casually leaned over and placed her head on Ced's shoulder.

Ced tensed.  "What are you doing?" he whispered to her, read as a tomato as the Hufflepuff table bloomed in smiles.

"Making sure you don't blow your cover, dear," Cho replied sweetly, staring daggers over at the Ravenclaw table.  _He had noticed.  Well, good._

Cedric sighed but, giving in to the inevitable, settled his arm around Cho's shoulders.  "You're a real cruel brat, did you know?"

Cho smiled.  "Oh yes, I know."

            Roger saw Cho giving him a catty smile out of the corner of his eye as Diggory put his arm around her shoulders.  Well fine.  Just dandy.

***

            At dinner, Cho stopped eating with the Ravenclaws altogether, choosing the Hufflepuff table.  The night the champions were to be announced, she was sitting nearly on Cedric's lap, which Roger "accidentally" noticed as he looked over from talking with Fleur.

Suddenly, the soothing, mind-emptying effect of Fleur's voice vanished, and he inhaled sharply, narrowing his eyes. However, before any plans to disembowel Diggory could progress very far, Dumbledore and the other judges came in and called for silence. The Goblet of Fire, which had been brought in, was occasionally shooting up red sparks. The time for the announcement of the champions was now taking place. 

A sheet of parchment zoomed out of the Goblet, and everyone waited with baited breath as Dumbledore caught it. "The champion for Durmstrang will be Viktor Krum!"

Cheers broke out amongst the students, both from Hogwarts and from Durmstrang. The world famous Quidditch player shuffled to his feet, and walked into the adjacent room to await further instructions. 

Then, Fleur's name was announced, and though several Beauxbatons girls started crying, she, too, received a storm of applause, mainly from the love-struck males in the student body. Roger took one look at Cho's furious face and broke into a grim smile. Two could play at this game. He, too, clapped loudly for the blonde girl as she sauntered gracefully down the same path the Viktor had gone. 

Cho watched as Roger applauded enthusiastically for the "shameless hussy". _Fool! Taken in by a snooty wench with a pretty face! I hope she breaks your heart, Roger! Like you broke mine..._ That last thought had popped out, unbidden, but Cho barely had time to analyze it when another piece of parchment shot out of the Goblet. "The champion for Hogwarts is Cedric Diggory!"

All the Hufflepuffs rose from their seats and gave Cedric a standing ovation as he smiled and walked into the next room. Cho, cheering for her friend, allowed herself a fierce little smile. _We'll see how stuck-up and snobby you'll be, princess, when Ced beats you and wins the Triwizard Cup..._

Her uncharacteristically malicious thoughts were interrupted when, to everyone's astonishment, a fourth sheet of parchment was expelled from the Goblet of Fire. A tense, thick silence fell upon everyone in the Great Hall, and Dumbledore read out one last name.

"Harry Potter."

The Hall was suddenly silent.  Harry Potter, the boy who was always in the spotlight, looked shell-shocked.  "I didn't put my name in," Harry was heard saying to his friends. "You know I didn't."

They only stared at him.

At the top table, Professor Dumbledore had straightened up, nodding to Professor McGonagall.

"Harry Potter!" he called again. "Harry! Up here, if you please!"

Harry's female friend gave him a little push and a whispered word of encouragement.,  He stood up, trod on the hem of his robes, and stumbled slightly. Everyone continued to watch him silently as he walked to the staff table.

"Well.... through the door, Harry," said Dumbledore. He wasn't smiling.

Harry walked the way the other champions had in complete silence.  It was a strange contrast to the cheering and clapping of a minute ago.  When he disappeared through the door, a girl at the Hufflepuff table, sitting across from Cho, whispered "Oh my God."

That was when pandemonium broke loose.  Everyone was talking at once, and Dumbledore seemed unwilling to stop it.  As he headed into the room in which the champions waited, along with the other judges, everyone continued to talk.

"Wonder how he got past the age restriction?" Hannah Abbot wondered.

"Well, he's the famous Harry Potter, isn't he?" Ernie Macmillan sighed.  "Should have figured he'd try to steal our spotlight."

Susan Bones sighed.  "They'll let him compete, of course.  He's Harry Potter.  Sometimes I wish to be Harry Potter.  Well… except the curse and dead family thing…"

"I don't think you'd enjoy being a boy, Sunan," Justin Finch-Fletchley pointed out.

"Shut it, Justin, you insensitive clod!"

"Look who's talking!  _I_ didn't bring up Potter's family!"

People all around Cho grumbled.  Without Ced there, she felt very out of place.  She stood up, planning to go back to the less-friendly but more comfortable Ravenclaw table.

"Say, Chang, you'll be supporting Cedric, won't you?" someone asked.  "He's the _real_ Hogwarts champion."

A murmur of agreement went through the table and Cho felt even more uncomfortable.  "Well… we should probably hear the whole story first…"

A sea of shocked Hufflepuff faces looked up at her.  Someone exclaimed "Really, Chang, your own boyfriend!"

Cho blushed.  "But I … of course I… I'll be rooting for Ced.  Of course.  Excuse me."  She made her escape.

For once, Cho's cold war with Roger was unnoticed when she sat back down amongst her housemates, who were too busy debating how in the world Harry Potter could have gotten his name into the Goblet without ending up in the same situation that Sarah Fawcett had gotten herself into. Cho tuned it all out, brows furrowed worriedly. Poor Cedric! She remembered the confession that he'd made last year to her, that night before she and Roger had quarreled, and her world had tumbled down. Then, she mentally slapped herself. _Why_ was she even _thinking _of the prat when her best friend was probably finding out at that very moment that he would have to be the rival of the one he loved in a competition far more serious than any inter-house competition or Quidditch cup, that they would be going against each other in life-and-death competitions? Really, what was with her self-absorbed preoccupation with her own petty issues lately?!

Well, she would have a good, long talk with Cedric tonight. The champions and judges would sort everything out, and Cho was fairly certain that, if her memory served her correctly, Harry _would_ have to compete. So, she would wait by the entrance of the Hufflepuff common room, and then, when Cedric returned, talk with him about... everything... until both of them felt better. 

Dinner concluded in a state of confusion. Cho, her mind still in a daze over all the dizzying developments that had happened to her world recently, walked slowly out of the Great Hall, but not with the rest of her housemates. Silently, she turned down the corridor towards the Hufflepuff common room, unaware of a pair of narrowed blue eyes following her retreating form down the hall. 

Roger watched as she separated from the rest of the Ravenclaws, and walked in the opposite direction... away from him... away from them, down the hall that would lead to the Hufflepuff common room. How she knew where said Common Room was... he did not want to think about it. Yes. Cedric bloody Diggory was the Hogwarts Champion, and his fair lady was sneaking off into the night to tryst with him. Damn him to hell eternal.


	11. Don't Think of Me

~*Everything You Want*~

Chapter Eleven: Don't Think of Me

Thalia: They're denser than Beijing's population. Either that, or we're as evil as Voldemort. Or both. *maniacal cackling* But you love this fic anyway, _DON'T YOU?!?!_

Dove: Yay!  We're back with a chapter of gargantuan proportions because we need to get to the blasted Yule Ball already!  This fic is growing wildly out of hand ^^;  Enjoy, for Cho shows a mildly sadistic side and we see much of Sarah Fawcett, canaries, and of course, dragons (but not the Draco kind, more's the pity)…

Disclaimer: When I learn to rhyme and become an otter, that is the day we will own Harry Potter…

_"Does it bother you now all the mess I made _

_Does it bother you now the clothes you told me not to wear _

_Does it bother you now all the angry games we played_

_Does it bother you now when I'm not there_

_When you see her sweet smile baby, don't think of me _

_And when she lays in your warm arms, don't think of me _

_And it's too late and it's too bad, don't think of me _

_Oh it's too late, oh it's too bad, don't think of me…"_

-Dido, "Don't Think of Me"

From that point on, that was how it went.  With no Quidditch to encourage communication between warring nations, Roger and Cho didn't so much as look at each other anymore-unless one was sure the other was asleep-and it seemed as though they would do a lovely job of pretending the other existed not at all.  Slowly but surely, life in Hogwarts became some semblance of normal again as everyone grew used to the foreign students and the constant speculation on what the Tasks would entail and how badly people would get hurt.  This last was a conversation Cho heard being held between bright-eyed Slytherin third years.  After taking points off from them for "unnecessary malice" she had continued on her way, far more worried than she let on.

            She and Cedric had had a long discussion in the Astronomy Tower the night the champions had been announced.  Actually, Cho mostly sat and listened, not bothering to say anything until Ced had talked himself out.  That was the kind of person Cedric Diggory was-he felt better not when he was given advice, but when he had a chance to air his problems aloud to another human being so that he might make sense of the muddle of thoughts in his head.

            The thoughts amounted to the fact that Cedric didn't want to compete against Harry, for his little crush was in dire danger of growing into intense infatuation.  Furthermore he was worried-not unnecessarily, though Cho chose not to comment on this-that Harry didn't have enough skill to survive the tournament.

            Several weeks later, Cho began to notice people wearing shiny badges.  "Support Cedric Diggory, the REAL Hogwarts champion," they stated in obnoxiously bright scarlet letters.  Cho saw a group of Slytherin boys, sniggering among themselves.  One of them pressed on the badge, and immediately the wording changed to "POTTER STINKS".  Feeling mildly sickened, Cho had gone on to her classes for the day, trying to ignore the unpleasant feeling in her stomach.

            Cedric had of course been outraged and wounded.  He had tried to explain to a group of his adoring younger housemates, all sporting badges, that he didn't resent Harry in the least.  The only thing he got for his trouble was sickeningly saccharine looks and "Cedric is so wonderfully _nice!_"  People in Hufflepuff still wore the badges.  Therefore Cedric was miserable.  Similarly, Cho was also miserable, and spent many a night comforting him, and often left little surprises, like baggies of chocolate or other sweets, on his desk in his classes, knowing they would lift his spirits.  That was what he would have done, after all, and had, in her third year when Potions had her nearly on the brink of hysterics on a nightly basis.  He had left her flowers then too-where he had gotten plum blossoms in January was beyond her-and that had started the speculations which she had so unwaveringly denied.

            All of this, of course, served to feed the rumors that she and Ced were caught up in a steamy, not altogether appropriate affair.  Instead of her adamant objections to this of the year before, Cho simply shrugged and let them talk.  Where was the harm, after all, when Roger was cuddling up closer and closer to that Delacour hussy every day?  At least _Cedric_ wouldn't _seduce_ her in some dark corner and drop her like a used tissue.  Not that she cared if Roger was used and tossed away, as it would have served him absolutely right.  And she didn't think about Roger Davies.  Much.

            In the following week, Cho's worry over Cedric grew. The First Task loomed closer and closer, and from what she'd read, it would be highly dangerous. And Cedric, her best friend, the one constant in her life that could never hurt her, would be facing it, unprepared. He had no idea what it was going to be, and neither did she. 

"I'm really worried for you," Cho said to him as they were having lunch, the day after a Hogsmeade visit. She now sat with him at every meal, at the Hufflepuff table, in a seat which faced away from the Ravenclaw table. She did not need additional things to muddle her head now.... no... she did not want to see Penny's sorrowful gaze, or the too-perceptive glances that Calista threw her way now and then. And especially... she did _not_ need to see the fair Fleur Delacour hanging all over the very _un_fair Roger Davies! She shook her head, and jerked her thoughts back to more pertinent issues. 

"Well... at least, none of the others know, either," Cedric said quietly, "So, it can't be that bad. They wouldn't set something upon us that we would be unable to handle. I'm really worried for..." 

"Yes, I know." Cho replied, sparing a glare at Ernie MacMillan, who was fiddling with his Support Cedric badge. He looked at her bewildered, then, realizing what she was scowling at, desisted, frowning. 

"I'll be all right, don't worry," Cedric smiled at her.  "Just wish me luck... wish all of us luck!"

Cho gave him a wan smile, "I'll wish you and him luck. I make no promises about the Delacour hussy." 

Cedric gave a short laugh, "All right, suit yourself."

***

            The next day, being the last day before the First Task, was naturally tense.  Fleur Delacour did not put in an appearance for any meals.  Seeing this, as well as the fact that Cedric was busily buried in a book, Cho sat at her own table for lunch.  Zachary Turpin, who had somehow been roped into bringing Fleur coffee, informed the Ravenclaws that she was in the library, surrounded by stacks of books, many of them from the Restricted Section, and seemed very distracted, for she hadn't noticed that there was a stain on her shirt.

            "Just where exactly were you looking, Zackie?" Lisa asked acidly.

            Zachary blushed and threw a grape at his sister.

            Cho bumped into Cedric in the hall as she was walking leisurely from Advanced Ancient Runes, for she had finished her weekly exam early and had some time to herself before her presence was required in the Potions dungeon.

            Seeing Ced, walking and reading at once-a positively Ravenclaw trait, that; she liked to think she was getting to him-she called out.  "Hey, Cedric.  Trying to study for Merlin knows what for?"

            Cedric's rather pale face emerged from the book, which looked to be written in rather old English, curlicues and all.  The title, or what she could make out of it, said something to the effect of _Ye Gentleman's Guide to Distracting Parlour Tricks-Advanced High Level Transfiguatione._  Cho decided whoever had named the book, whatever century he had been in, must have been daft.

            "I do know what," Cedric said softly, changing directions so he could walk with her.  "Dragons."  He muttered the word with an equal measure of reverence and fear, reminding Cho just how very bad he was in Care of Magical Creatures.  Dragons, certainly, were not in Cedric's league at all.

            "Dragons?" she hissed.  "They're setting you against _dragons?_"

            Cedric nodded silently.

            Cho entertained thoughts of Fleur's silken mane of hair burning off and leaving her looking like a rather less lovely shorn sheep.  She even smiled-only for a moment.  "How do you know?"

            "Harry told me this morning," Cedric replied.

            Cho looked at the half-hopeful expression and allowed herself a tiny sigh.  "How did Harry know?"

            Cedric shrugged.  "Didn't say.  Only that he saw the dragons."  He looked entirely hopeless.

            Cho hugged Cedric fiercely in the middle of the hallway, ignoring people who stopped to stare, among them Roger, who was carrying a platter of something or other in the direction of the library.  "You'll be lovely," Cho assured Cedric with a confidence she didn't feel.  "Dragons, eh?  Perhaps they shall maim Fleur Delacour beyond all recognition."

            Cedric actually smiled.  "You're rather vicious, my dear," he said mildly, worry forgotten for the moment.

            Cho smiled cattily and dropped a curtsy.  Ced smiled and clapped politely before chancing to look at his watch.

            "So, will you come to the Astronomy Tower tonight?" Cedric asked hurriedly, "We have class in a few minutes, and I know that you don't want to be late to Potions..."

"Of course; I'll meet you there at nine." Cho gave him another hug, and dashed down the hall towards the dungeons. Cedric watched her running off with a small smile on his face, before he was startled by a noise behind him. 

He turned around just in time to see Roger Davies scowl blackly at him before turning on his heel and storming off towards the Transfiguration classroom. 

Cedric sighed. If it were not for the fact that he would lose Cho's friendship and trust forever, he would have caught up with the other boy, grabbed him by the shoulders, and told him just what was _not going on between himself and Cho. And exactly what Cho thought of Fleur Delacour's flirtations, and why she thought that way. But, of course, it was not for him to tell. Smiling ruefully, he, too, turned, and headed towards History of Magic. _

That night, after she had rushed through her homework, Cho walked out of the Ravenclaw Common Room without a backward glance. It was mostly deserted; the girls were all up in their dormitories, gossiping and speculating over what would happen in the First Task tomorrow. The boys, most of them, were at the library, willing to run the risk of detention and the loss of points in order to wait upon Fleur. Roger Davies was sitting in his usual spot in front of the fire, seemingly intent on his Potions homework. Cho smiled to herself, feeling benevolent towards Professor Snape for the first time in her life. The overgrown bat had some use after all, to load Roger with homework so that he, at least, did not have the time to fawn over Fleur Delacour that night. The clock chimed 8:45, and she ran out. 

She reached the Astronomy Tower a few minutes before nine o'clock. Ced was already waiting there, a stack of books beside him. "Thanks for coming, Cho."

"You're welcome," Cho smiled at him. "So, do you have any idea what you're going to do?"

Cedric shrugged, "Vaguely. I was thinking of how I could possibly distract the dragon. Transfiguration seemed like the best bet, but I haven't really figured out what to do beyond that."

Cho nodded slowly, "Well, you've got a valid idea. Now, we just have to figure out what sort of distraction the dragon would go for, and how to accomplish it." 

Cedric nodded, "I've a few books on dragons here, let me see if I can find something." 

"I'll help," Cho offered at once, lifting one of the books into her lap. Side by side, the two sat down, and started to read. 

An hour passed in silence, before Cedric suddenly jumped up, "Prey! We need to turn something into a creature that dragons might prey upon!"

Cho's head jerked up, "Of course! Now... let's see... livestock would be your best bet. Hmm... what could possibly be there for you to transfigure though? We would have to know that in order to get a good spell..."

Cedric shrugged, "I'd think it would be an open field... not much there at all... perhaps some grass, a few rocks..."

"That's it!" Cho suddenly jumped up and started muttering, "Now... the spell... I read about it in this book once... how did it go..." Finally, she turned to Cedric, "All right. I think I know a spell that might work. Assuming that there are rocks on the field, I once learnt a spell in which rocks could be transfigured into farm animals of different sorts depending on their size..."

For the next three hours, they practiced. Cho's arm was starting to ache from the complicated wand-work required for the spell, but she kept at it. Finally, at 1:00 am, the chunk of brick that they'd been practicing on got successfully transformed into a goat. It bleated, and Cedric changed it back to its original form. Cho gave him an exhausted but happy smile.

"There, you'll do great tomorrow," she said. "But now, both of us should get some sleep."

"Yes, thanks again for coming, Cho."

"You're welcome." The two walked out, and separated. Cho walked slowly back to the Ravenclaw Common Room, wondering idly if the other champions had figured out what to do yet. "Eyrie," she called out softly. The portrait opened up, and she walked in. Then stopped. 

Roger was lying on the couch, fast asleep, potions book resting open on his chest. Slowly, cautiously, Cho advanced, until she was standing right in front of him. His face was calm while in repose, the eyes that when awake were filled with bitterness were closed, lashes resting on the chiseled cheeks. Before she could stop herself, a hand had reached forward to gently brush his hair from his eyes. She drew back a moment later, as if burnt, but he did not awaken. Silently, Cho took the cushion from the window seat and transfigured it into a blanket, then covered him carefully with it. Hmph! That flashy, self-absorbed Fleur Delacour certainly wouldn't have done that for him! 

Filled with conflicting, confusing thoughts, she walked up to her dormitory room, changed into a nightgown and went to bed. She fell into a fitful slumber, and visions of beautiful, blue-eyed dragons filled her dreams.

***

            The next day dawned clear and sunny, with a delicate design of frost around the edges of the tall windows of the Ravenclaw dormitories.  Accordingly, Cho spent a considerable amount of time finding her warmest sweater (it was discovered under Cassandra's bed and Cho promised herself to give the chit a tongue-lashing she would never forget later) and grabbing her blue and bronze scarf and gloves as well as her fur-lined cloak before going downstairs for breakfast.

            Breakfast was loud and there was an air of excitement, but Cho only managed to choke down a few slices of orange before standing up and rushing outside towards the Quidditch pitch, eager for good seats.  The cold wind stung her cheeks and turned them red as she clambered up into the stands and settled herself between Calista and Penelope.  Penny immediately passed her a thermos.  "It's making the rounds," she cautioned.  "If you turn into a canary, you'll know who to blame."

            Cho giggled at the implication-Sarah Fawcett had purchased positively a bucket-full of Canary Creams from the Gryffindor Beaters and had spent an evening bent over them before figuring out what components to slip into people's food and drink without them noticing to gain the same effect.  This may have explained Sarah's excellent Potions grade (for even Professor Snape was not able to find fault with her) or the amount of detentions she served.  Probably both.

            Cho decided to risk it and took a sip, discovering that the hot chocolate was good, and she felt no onset of feathers.  This was all very well, so she passed the thermos to Calista and concentrated on the field below her, watching as many wands built a huge nest, into which were piled large, gray-colored eggs.  Cho's stomach twisted.  Nesting mothers?  A gold egg was placed among the gray ones.  Cho felt a little ill.

            "Cho?  Aren't those… dragon eggs?"

            Cho looked down at the wide-eyed Calista.  "Yes," she replied.  "They are."

            Calista looked very frightened.  "Why would they be setting up dragon eggs?"

            Cho had a sneaking suspicion she knew, but replied with a noncommittal "we'll see in a minute" as Ludo Bagman appeared.

            Cho's eyes were riveted upon a tent in the distance where the champions were ensconced. In there were Cedric, Harry, and of course, Viktor and... Fleur. She watched as Ludo Bagman headed from the judges' table towards the tent, a small purple sack in his hands. 

Time seemed to stand still as they waited... waited. Cho shut her eyes, and then, a deafening roar resounded through the air. Her eyes snapped open again, and a blue-gray dragon was led into the middle of the enclosure. "Swedish Short-Snout" she heard Penny whisper close by. The dragon perched itself upon the eggs and blew a stream of fire twenty feet into the air. 

The crowd barely had time to gasp when a whistle blew shrilly. Ludo Bagman ran back to the judges' table at the same moment that a dark-haired figure emerged from the champions' tent. Cho craned her neck to see who it was, then gasped, her hands clasped so tightly that her knuckles turned white.

"Good luck, Cedric!"

Cedric strode slowly into the enclosure, his face pale. He glanced around, then, when he got within fifteen feet of the dragon, he pointed his wand at the ground. A flash of yellow light, and a labrador was now standing in front of him, barking and running in front of the dragon. The dragon watched the young man and the dog with a pair of golden eyes. Cedric stood very still, while the dog ran back and forth in front of the dragon. The dragon's head moved slightly back and forth, following the dog's movements with its eyes. Cho prayed that it would work...

Cedric clutched his wand tightly, his eyes shifting from the dog to the dragon, and back... he moved forward tentatively, then jumped back as the dragon saw him from the corner of its eye and opened its mouth. He barely leapt back in time, and the crowd gasped collectively as Bagman shouted "Ooooh, narrow miss there, very narrow..."

Finally, after several minutes, Cedric's transfigured dog managed to distract the Short-Snout enough so that he got close enough to grab the golden egg. But then, just as he was about to pull back, the dragon swiveled around, blazing yellow eyes turned on him. Cedric, golden egg clutched tightly in his hands, ran backwards as fast as he could. But a jet of fire caught him on the cheek. He hurriedly covered his cheek with a sleeve and ran backwards, golden egg still clutched under his arm. He looked fairly intact, and Cho drew a deep sigh of relief.

She only had a moment to relax before another dragon was brought out-"Common Welsh Green," Penny muttered.  This dragon was a bit smaller and looked a little more vicious.

Cho was nervous for a moment before a figure in pale blue exited the tent.  Then she grinned maniacally.  "The Princess prepares to meet her doom," she murmured, suddenly not at all cold.

Three rows back, Roger was also watching intently.  He had been rather amused by Cedric's silly mistake-all right, so the Transfiguration had been quite advanced, so perhaps it wasn't so silly-but now he was tense.  Fleur had become something of a friend to him.  At least, she was friendlier with him than she was with just about anyone else, and really, she was the only one who didn't make jabs at him about Cho-who he didn't think about unless someone mentioned her.  Much.

Therefore, he stood up and hollered his support for the French girl, who managed to find a moment away from here stare-off with the dragon to flash a brilliant smile up at the stands.

Three rows below, Cho markedly _didn't notice this, though her ears turned a bit redder than they had been, and she stared down, matching both Fleur and the dragon glare for glare.  Fleur raised her wand and said something melodious that might have been Greek.  The dragon's eyes drooped.  Cho hissed her disappointment as it fell to the ground with a loud **THUD, rolled over and fell asleep.**_

So intent was she that she didn't notice Penny softly whispering "Down, girl."

She only watched as Fleur sauntered confidently towards the nest and picked up the golden egg.  Suddenly, the dragon took a deep breath and expelled a flame on a snore.  Cho grinned widely as the hem of Fleur's robe caught on fire and the lovely girl began stomping around, trying to put it out, looking rather frantic.  "Not her hair, pity," Cho murmured.  "Wonder if there'll be scorch marks?"

The whistle blew once again, and this time, Cho recognized quite well the bright red dragon that they brought out. Eyes wide with amazement, she breathed, "A Chinese Fireball..."

The beautiful red and gold dragon crouched down upon the eggs, as Viktor Krum shuffled onto the field. His head was slightly lowered, his expression unreadable. The audience waited with baited breath, wondering what the famous Quidditch player would do. Krum raised his wand, and muttered a hex, aimed directly at the dragon's eyes. Cho winced as the dragon let out a shriek of agony and reared up, trampling several of the cement-colored eggs in the nest. However, what really mattered was that Viktor, in the space of time that the dragon had been blinded, had grabbed the golden egg. The audience broke out in wild applause, and then, the final dragon was let out. 

It was pure black, and Penny, sitting next to Cho, gave a gasp, "Hungarian Horntail." Cho followed the direction where the Head Girl was pointing, and shuddered. The dragon's tail had several sharp-looking bronze-colored spikes. She had never felt so apprehensive for Harry Potter before, until this moment.

The whistle blew one last time, and the youngest champion stepped out. He slowly drew out his wand, and then, after a moment of tense silence all around, summoned his Firebolt. Cho inhaled sharply. Simple, but utterly brilliant! She breathed a sigh of relief, both for Harry and for her best friend, as the Gryffindor Seeker took to the air, where he belonged.

It was over very quickly. Harry Potter was the quickest to retrieve his egg, and Cho clapped and cheered with all the others in the audience. Well! At least... at least neither he nor Cedric were seriously injured, and both of them performed well in the first task. It would be a Hogwarts victory. She just knew it. 

And Fleur Delacour could then go back to Beauxbatons with her airs and her silvery blonde hair and _stay there._

***

            There were a few weeks of calm after that as the champions relaxed a bit from their exertions and attempted to figure out the riddle which was apparently hidden in their eggs.  This, however, was certainly less dangerous than facing a nesting dragon, and therefore, life once again flowed in its normal vein.  Cho, who was taking Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, _and Transfiguration at an advanced level and preparing for O.W.L.s to boot had very little time  Therefore, she was barely keeping herself awake through her meals when Dumbledore announced that a ball was to be held at Hogwarts over the Christmas holidays.  Cho had been drifting off to sleep with her head on Cedric's shoulder, and people had laughed saying "Lucky Ced, already has a date.  Doesn't even need to ask."  In that way, that was settled rather quickly.  Cho shrugged and took this in course.  After all, she was making Roger madly jealous by pretending to date Cedric.  Why stop now?_

            That night as she prepared for bed, she listened with half an ear as Melissa and Cassandra gossiped about who was going with whom to the ball.  "Well of _course Vanderhoff asked Fawcett," Melissa stated matter-of-factly.  "He's the only one not scared of her and he's been smitten for years."_

            "Be that as it may, he _knew she was seeing Stebbins."_

"Well, love makes you stupid, you know," Melissa said.  "Because I hear he actually caught them up in the Astronomy Tower once and they were-"

            Melissa grinned wickedly.  "Oh, but that's Cho and Cedric's haunt.  Right, Cho?"

            Cho grunted in response and crawled into bed.

            Cassandra flipped her hair and began to carefully count brush strokes.  "Well, at least the golden couple is going together.  I saw _him ask __her at dinner today.  She was smiling."_

            Melissa sighed dreamily.  "They look so _good together!  Fleur Delacour-Davies… it even has a nice ring."_

            Cho found suddenly that she wasn't at all sleepy.


	12. Sweet Misery

~*Everything You Want*~

Chapter Twelve: Sweet Misery

Dove: We're back with the infamous Yule Ball chapter… why did Fleur kiss Roger in the rosebushes?  Why was he agreeing with everything she said?  Can we get enough Draco/Ginny plugs in here?  The answers all lie ahead in this far-too-long chapter full of goodies, including much Blaise Zabini and more Weasley chaos.  Enjoy.

Thalia: The way-too-much-fun Yule Ball chapter. *does happy Sadistic Fanfiction Goddess dance*. Now, the girls are all looking beautiful, people are dancing and partying, and yet, everyone's pissed, and sexual tension zooms across the room like freaky bolts of lightning! What fun!!

Disclaimer: My boyfriend would throw a conniption of incredible proportions if I, Thalia, were suddenly granted ownership of Roger. Not to mention.... Cho would kill me. Because, if you couldn't tell by now, I'm a bloody sadist.

_"I was blind, _

_But oh how you could see, _

_You saw the beauty in everything_

_And everything in me_

_I would cry_

_And you would smile,_

_Stay with me, a little while_

_Oh, sweet misery you caused me_

_That's what you called me_

_Sweet misery you caused me_

_And in my heart I see_

_What you're doing to me_

_And in my heart I see_

_Just how you wanted it to be_

Sweet misery…" 

-Michelle Branch, "Sweet Misery"

In the fifth year Ravenclaw dormitories, a lone girl lay awake in her bed, idly trying to braid her shoulder-length black hair, silently staring up at the blue velvet enclosure around and above her, surrounded by the light snores of her roommates. Tears that she could not stanch dripped slowly from her wide-open brown eyes. 

"Cho Chang, you need to sleep! You have a Charms exam tomorrow morning! Charms.."

Charms. Roger's best subject. And Fleur bloody Delacour's. Fleur, who was positively reeking with veela charms like a strong perfume. Beautiful Fleur. Smart, stunning, a Triwizard Champion, talented at Charms... no wonder Roger was head over heels for her.

It was not fair. She was crying over a perfect girl she couldn't help hating irrationally, and an imperfect boy she couldn't bring herself to hate rationally. 

"Roger, it's all your fault! If you hadn't been... if you hadn't been so stubborn, intractable, temperamental... beautiful, intelligent, beyond my reach... if you hadn't been such a prat... we would still be friends! Damn you anyway... it's all your fault! I didn't _want to love you..."_

That night, a night that should have been filled with pleasant dreams and excitement for the upcoming ball, a heartbroken Chinese girl fell asleep with a messy, short braid of hair sticking to a damp cheek, where the tears had marred the pale skin with tracks.

***

            Over the next few weeks, the school was all abuzz about the Yule Ball.  Melissa had sent away to her mother for dress robes, for she lived in Hogsmeade, and therefore had a set in lovely pale lilac the very next day, which Cassandra and even Cho obligingly made enchanted noises over.  Others went into Hogsmeade themselves to return with packages and bright faces.  Still others, such as Cassandra, had brought theirs in anticipation, and they were now airing in all their glory, so that most of the girls' dormitories looked as though a whirlwind of color and delicate scent had descended upon them and left wreckage that was unusually pleasant to the eye.

            Cho belonged to this last group as well.  When dress robes had shown up on her school list, she had immediately thought of the shimmering pale pink robes that Cedric had presented her with last Christmas.  She was lucky, she reflected, this it seemed she would not grow any more, for they still fit as though they were made for her the night she tried them on, carefully timing it so that Melissa and Cassandra would not see.  She looked like a fairytale princess, short hair or no, and it cheered her up a little, for the robes quite transformed her.

            To everyone's great surprise, the quiet Calista was the only second year staying behind.  Cho was certainly not expecting to see the small bespectacled girl sitting in her dressing gown and drinking cocoa in the common room on the first day of the holidays, a book on the breeding habits of Antipodean Opaleyes open in her lap.  "Calista!" Cho exclaimed.

            Calista looked up and smiled, putting a piece of hair that had escaped one of her two long honey-brown braids behind her ear.  "Good morning, Cho!  Sleep well?"

            Cho nodded and sat down.  Calista automatically offered her a second cup from the tray on the table and Cho inhaled the rich fragrance and felt better.  "You're staying?  Are you going to the Yule Ball?"

            Calista nodded happily.  "Yes!  I'm so excited!  Glenda was very sore with me, though; she thought if any of us would get asked, it would be her."  The popular Glenda, who was growing up to be quite lovely with her hair in golden waves and green eyes had indeed been rather livid the night before as she was flying around the common room looking for a book she had to pack.  Now Cho knew why.

            "Who's taking you?" Cho enquired.  "Someone from Ravenclaw?"

            Calista shook her head.  "No, Slytherin.  Blaise Zabini asked me two days ago.  I think that rather large Bustrode girl is vexed."

            "You are the queen of understatement today," Cho deadpanned.  She knew _of Blaise Zabini, even if she didn't know him directly.  Tall, dark, and handsome, if you excluded his affiliation with the children of Death Eaters, he had been born in Italy and moved to England at five years of age.  He had made sure the accent stayed in place, though Cho personally thought it was an affect.  "Well, I hope you have a good time in any case.  Come and sit with us if he decides to be evil."_

            "Blaise is nice," Calista said tranquilly.  "At least compared to the other boys in his year. He asked me and not Glenda, after all.  I think I can handle it."

            Cho had hugged her and realized that little Calista was growing up.

            Cho had also spent quite a bit of her time with Cedric, for she was still eating at least half of her meals with the Hufflepuffs.  They had talked about everything, carefully avoiding the topic of the Ball.  It was agreed around school that she would go with him, but it had never been discussed.  One night, she came back to the common to find a sprig of plum blossoms (it was December, and she had to laugh at his ingenuity) in a water-glass on her favorite windowseat with a note that said:

_Cho,_

_I know everyone thinks we're going together_

_anyway, bit I thought I should ask to keep up_

_pretenses.  What do you say?_

_-Ced_

Cho had smiled a bit and the next morning at breakfast told him wholeheartedly, "I'd love to."  Then it was truly settled, and she didn't have to think about much except the fact that she would likely have to be the center of attention for a while, going with Ced.

That afternoon, as she stood in the hallway debating the significance of the color of one's dress robes with Melissa, Cassandra, and the younger Padma Patil, a discussion she had been roped into against her will, she was approached by a very nervous-looking Harry Potter.  "Er-Cho? Could I have a word with you?"

All the girls around her started giggling for no apparent reason. Cho sighed inwardly. And they called themselves Ravenclaws! She simply nodded, and followed him to a slight distance down the hall.

Harry muttered something very quickly, that she didn't quite catch. "Sorry?"

The boy blushed slightly, and repeated his statement a bit slower, "D'you-d'you want to go to the ball with me?"

Cho's thoughts flew from him, to Ced, then back, but all she could manage was, "Oh!" She felt her cheeks heating up as well. Reflecting that fate must really have a sadistic sense of humor, she said softly, "Oh Harry, I'm really sorry; I've already said I'll go with someone else."

Of course, she did not mention that said "someone else" was in love with him, and that right now, he was complicating an already irreparable tangle of love and hate and jealousy. She hoped... she really _hoped that Harry had asked her only because he had a passing interest in her for her Quidditch skills, and thought that they would have common things to talk about._

"Oh," he said. "Oh okay, no problem."

What was she to say now? Mentally cursing her life, she apologized again. They looked at each other awkwardly for a few more moments, and then, just as she was about to leave, he asked her whom it was that she would be going with.

"Oh-Cedric. Cedric Diggory."

"Oh right," Harry said rather tonelessly, before walking off. And Cho Chang walked slowly to dinner, wondering how in the world things had gotten so ridiculously complicated.

***

            The day of the ball, every female in the school sojourned to their respective dormitories shortly after lunch and stayed there, chattering and trying this way and that to style their hair and wear their make-up.  The boys seemed quite baffled by this desire to spend any more time than absolutely necessary, and stayed down in their common rooms until an hour beforehand, playing games and wondering at the absurdity of women in general.

            Cho decided to leave the washroom to Cassandra and Melissa, who were monopolizing it anyway, and made her way down the back stairs of the tower (it had taken her some time to bribe the house-elves into giving this location) and through the halls to the Prefects' bathroom.  "blueberry pancakes," she said, and went in.

            This was rather like a public bathhouse.  Loud and fun, the large pool of a bathtub was filled to the brim with colorful bubbles, and Head Girl Penelope seemed to be having the time of her life filling the room with bubbles from her wand that refused to pop and instead settled on people's hair.  There was much laughter and merriment.

            "And they say we're responsible," Cho muttered, a smile tugging at her mouth.  "Prefects.  Honestly."

            Just as she had settled herself in a corner and readied for a quick shower in the stalls lining the back wall, a silence descended upon the room.  Through the door were coming the female half of the delegation from Beauxbatons, herded in by Professor McGonagall.  "There, the French students need a place to get ready too, as their hot water seems to have been exchanged for a torrent of beetles…"  Angelina Johnson looked rather like she was about to pass out.  "If anyone has solid _proof that the Weasley twins are behind this, see me tomorrow morning."  She looked around the room and sighed.  "Hopefully you girls are faring better than the boys are," she said dryly.  "Professor Snape has given out three detentions for… well…" she turned bright red and went to shut the door, following up with "Just behave!  Or else!"_

            Fleur Delacour had been the last one to walk in.  She looked around the room slowly.  When her eyes landed on Cho, she stared unwaveringly for a few moments, then smiled to herself in what Cho thought appeared to be a very predatory fashion.  Cho bared her teeth and whirled around in the direction of the showers, all the festive spirit gone.

A bit later, Cho watched as the French girl, freshly washed and groomed, brushed out her mane of long silvery hair and pinned it up in a sophisticated-looking twist. Fleur reached into an ice-blue cosmetic bag, and pulled out a thin silver hairpin jeweled with a single sapphire, and fastened her shining locks with it. Then, she put on elegant-looking dress robes of smoky silver, and, shoulders back, head held high, she marched out of the Prefects' bathroom looking every inch like a goddess. Cho's scowl deepened. Oh, what wouldn't she do for a vial of bubotuber pus right now!

Penelope's voice sounded behind her, "Cho, could you please help me fasten my robes?"

Cho turned around and faced the older Prefect, pasting a mechanical smile on her face, "Sure." She turned around, and laced up the back of Penny's sky-blue robes, "You look lovely, Penny."

"Thanks. Now, you've not shown me what you're going to wear. Come on, let's see them."

Cho _had been quite satisfied with how she had looked when she had tried the beautiful pink robes on. But now, she sighed self-consciously as she held them out for Penny's inspection. "Ced gave them to me last Christmas... d'you think... d'you think I'll look all right in them? I'm not at all sophisticated, and my hair..."_

Penny gave her a very perceptive look. "Your hair seems to be growing out nicely. And, you didn't have to cut it, you know. But I'm sure you'll look beautiful all the same. Not all boys go for the unapproachable look, no matter how it seems to be at our table. And besides, it seems to me that Cedric adores you plenty as it is; what are you worried about?"

Cho sighed, "Nothing......" then, she scowled again, "Why does that Delacour hussy have to be so damned flashy? So, she's a bloody champion... big deal! But none of the others strut around like a bloody peacock!"

Penny smiled wryly to herself behind Cho's back as she, in turn, helped the younger girl lace up her dress robes. "There, you look lovely. Now, are you going back to the dormitory to do your hair?"

Cho sighed.  "Yes.  Something possessed me, I swear, either that, or Melissa's a hypnotist.  I promised to let _them do it."_

"Alas, poor Chang, I knew her well," Penny deadpanned.  Cho found herself laughing genuinely for the first time that day.

***

Getting back to Ravenclaw Tower without being seen would have been a tricky business, so Cho put a long cloak over her robes before taking the back stairs up.  She only met one person-Sarah Fawcett, who was on her way down to the prefects' bathroom, fully dressed but with a messy hairstyle.  They smiled at each other as they passed.

Once she arrived and entered her dormitory, she was automatically accosted by a sweet floral fragrance and the excited squeals of her roommates.  "Darling, we thought you'd forgotten!" Cassandra said, leading her to a chair in the middle of the room and plopping her down.

"How _could I forget such a __momentous occasion?" Cho said in a voice dripping with sarcasm._

The two girls pretended not to notice the venom as they fluttered about, resplendent in their pastel robes (for Cassandra was in buttercup yellow).  Cho winced when she realized she actually _matched them._

"Now, we took the liberty of looking through your hair things to see what we could do-I hope you don't mind," Melissa said briskly.

Cho sighed.  "Whyever would I mind?"

Cassandra grinned.  "Cho, darling, sulking spoils your complexion.  Now, all we found that could be suitable were these."  She brandished a pair of diamond-studded combs, and Cho's heart skipped a beat.  She carried the gift given her by Cecilia Davies, but she had never expected to wear them.

"No, no, I can't…" she trailed off, wondering what to say.

Melissa looked at her shrewdly.  "I see.  Well, it doesn't matter in any case, for your hair is far too short for them now.  We were quite baffled."

"Lucky for us, your wonderful boyfriend decided to solve our problems.  You really are lucky, you know," Cassandra continued.  She moved over to Cho's bed, drew the curtains, and picked up a delicate wreath of plum blossoms.  She handed it to Cho.  "He sent his owl and said that they were charmed not to wilt for the night, so we can worry about other things, such as curling those ends under…"

Cho smiled slightly at Cedric's thoughtfulness as she held the fragrant pink wreath in her hands.  All things considered, Cedric really would have made the best of boyfriends, the obvious problem excepted.  Well that, and the fact that he wasn't Roger.  Of which Cho refused to think at all.

Together, the three girls, Cho bringing up the rear, trooped out of the dormitory and down the stairs. Henry Vanderhoff, escorting a red-clad Lisa Turpin, raised an eyebrow as they entered the common room.

"And here we have three resplendent asters. Lisa, why don't you, Mandy, Padma and Su match? Look how much more organized they are."

Cassandra and Melissa giggled, and together, headed out of the common room to meet their dates. Cho rolled her eyes at Henry, "Please... don't remind me."

Henry chuckled, "You look nice."

"Thanks, you two look nice as well," Cho said with a small smile. "Lisa, who is Zach going with?"

Lisa gave a little shrug, "Angela Branstone from Hufflepuff. I think they're partners in Potions or something. She's very sweet."

"Good for him!" Cho smiled thinly. "He has good taste, then. Better than I can say for some others... Well, I have to meet Cedric at the Entrance Hall. I'll see you in a bit!" Saying so, she walked out of the Ravenclaw Common Room.

Henry and Lisa exchanged an amused glance behind her back.

Cho met Calista on her way downstairs. The younger girl looked quite pretty in her moss-green dress robes, the light, airy material shot with golden threads to complement the wreath of golden leaves in her brown hair. "Hello, Cho! You look lovely."

"Thanks, you look very nice yourself. Blaise is a lucky boy." Cho smiled and took the younger girl's arm. "Where are you going to meet him?"

Calista scanned the hallway, which was starting to crowd with people dressed in brightly colored robes. "Oh, there he is!" Cho looked to where Calista was pointing, and sure enough, there stood the Slytherin boy, dressed in charcoal gray, a bored expression on his handsome face as a very overly made-up Millicent Bulstrode prattled on to him. He looked around, and his eyes lit upon Calista, descending the staircase. He grinned engagingly. Calista blushed. Millicent glared and skulked off.

"Well, I must go now," Calista called over her shoulder and she quickly walked down the staircase, "See you later, Cho!"

Cho waved and smiled benevolently at the younger girl. Ah, Calista was a little sweetheart. Cho hoped that she would have a delightful time tonight, and that Blaise Zabini would treat her every bit as well as she deserved to be treated. 

And then, she saw a glorious head of silvery blonde hair, and all benevolent feelings vanished. Cho riveted her eyes away from Fleur and Roger before any budding thoughts about tearing out the part-veela's hair could progress too far, and saw Cedric Diggory standing at the foot of the staircase, smiling at her. She quickly joined him and took his arm. There! Fleur Delacour and Roger Davies could just go and... and hang themselves!

The Front Doors opened, and the Durmstrang students walked in, led by Viktor Krum. The Quidditch player was escorting a pretty girl with light brown hair, dressed in blue. Professor McGonagall called for the champions and their partners to step forward, and Cho, keeping her eyes studiously away from Fleur and Roger and fixing them upon Cedric instead, walked in before Harry Potter and Padma's twin sister and sat down to applause from everyone present.

They found themselves sitting next to Professor Dumbledore, and Cedric beamed down at her. "You look lovely. I'm very lucky to be going with the prettiest girl here."

Cho smiled back at him. Well... not everyone would think so... but she simply said, in a playful voice, "Cedric Diggory, are you, by any chance, _flirting_ with me?"

He matched her grin with one of his own, "I wouldn't dare," he said solemnly, "but really, you look beautiful."

"Thanks," Cho replied, her eyes involuntarily glancing at Fleur Delacour. "I'm glad you think so."

"Trust me, I'm sure that I am not the only one," Cedric said seriously. "Now, let's eat, shall we?"

"We shall. Chicken Kiev!" Cho called out, after seeing the Headmaster enunciate his order to his plate. The food arrived, and she studiously looked down at her plate, trying to ignore the Beauxbatons champion's imperious voice a few seats over.

Meanwhile, Roger was trying very hard to concentrate on Fleur.  Trying so hard, in fact, that he was quite oblivious to the world around him.  "Are you even listening to me?" the lovely girl asked.

"Hmm," said Roger noncommittally, picking at his food.  He decided he should probably look at her, and once again concentrated on Fleur's face-certainly not on the wreathed black head behind her.  Why was it that Cedric was the only one who could get Cho's favorite flowers to grow in this climate?  Roger smiled absently so he wouldn't scowl.  He was feeling rather miserable and doing his very best not to show it.  He shouldn't ruin the evening for Fleur.

"…'e would be expelled like _zat_." Fleur slapped her slim hand onto the table impatiently.

Roger realized he probably should have been listening.  What had she been talking about?  His fork missed his mouth again as he tried to remember.  "Absolutely right," he said quickly and, he hoped, not too guiltily, slapping his own hand down on the table in imitation of Fleur. "Like _that_. Yeah."

Fleur gave him a very curious look, and Harry Potter a veiledly amused one.  Roger tried not to blush.  He didn't notice Cedric's rather tragic expression.  He was, after all, pretending that he didn't exist.

The rest of dinner passed without incident, though once Roger caught Fleur softly asking him what he thought of the breeding habits of Manticores.  Roger, who had tuned in just in time to hear this, blushed and choked on his food.  Fleur had looked gratified.  "It appears I can make you listen to me aftair all," she said lightly.

Roger looked at her and wondered what she meant by that half-smile she wore.  "I've been listening to you," he disagreed.

"Off and on," she shrugged.  "We need to go dance."

Roger stood; glad for the many dancing lessons he had had from his mother in childhood, and offered Fleur his hand.  He wasn't concentrating at all, but his body responded automatically.  It was hard to forget the many times he had done this, the many times Cho had grinned, stood, and curtsied to him while Cecilia smiled in the background and called out the beat.  How they had fallen, stepped on each other's feet, and spun in circles around his living room until one of them became too dizzy and fell.  Roger remembered the fancy party his parents had thrown when he was about ten and how he and little Cho, who had looked younger than her eight years, had charmed the guests by opening the dancing with a sprightly waltz.  His heart gave a pang.

Fleur stood, took his hand, and they proceeded to the middle of the floor, Roger's other hand lightly on her back as he escorted her.  He hadn't danced in years, the last time when he had been no more than sixteen, when he had caught Cho dancing around alone with her eyes closed in her backyard and tapped her shoulder, asking if she would be so gracious as to let him have this dance.  Their endless, music-less spinning had been interrupted by Ying-Ying Chang who had come outside and called Cho in for dinner.  Roger had watched Cho go inside with a look of loss on his face.

That had been the summer before his sixth year, and that had been the moment he realized he cared for the diminutive girl as more than a friend.

Sighing, Roger made himself smile, made himself bow elegantly, and drew Fleur into his arms.  They began to dance slowly.  She was really quite wonderful at this, light on her feet, graceful.  She was also, however, too tall, for her eyes nearly met his.  Her delicate hand in his was cool and her lovely face was impassive without laughter hiding behind the blue eyes.  He looked into those eyes and realized that, despite the fact that he was dancing with the loveliest girl he had ever met, a girl lovely, intelligent and caring, however she tried to hide it under a haughty exterior, he wasn't at all happy.  He hear a familiar voice murmuring softly somewhere to his right.  Cho seemed to be having a good time.  Cedric laughed at whatever she had said softly.

He wondered whether he could make it through the night without screaming.

Cho and Cedric, dancing a little ways away, were, indeed, having a good time.  "Someday someone will explain to me how that little girl manages to wind everyone around her fingers without us realizing it," Cho was saying, looking out of the corner of her eye at Calista, who had just been lead onto the dance floor by Blaise Zabini, who really seemed quite taken with her.  "A Slytherin!  Really!"

Cedric laughed a little and turned Cho around slightly.  "It's not as rare as you think.  Look over there."

Cho looked and beheld Draco Malfoy, the terror of Slytherin, a slight sneer on his face, dancing with an over-frilled and over-perfumed girl from his own house.  However, though she was chattering at him amicably, his eyes were elsewhere.  Cho followed his gaze across the room and beheld a small red-haired girl in forest green robes who was trying and failing to dance with a very clumsy boy in dark brown.

"Ginny Weasley.  She's Gryffindor," Cedric grinned.  "I wonder if she would deck him if she knew he had been watching her covertly for the greater part of two months?"

Cho giggled softly.  "You notice everything, don't you?"

Cedric looked at her very seriously.  "Just about," he said.

Cho's good mood vanished like smoke.  "Ced-"

Cedric shook his head.  "You don't have to worry.  I'm not going to bring this up tonight."

Cho sighed.  "I'd rather you not bring it up at all.  I'm thirsty."  With that, she fled the dance floor, Cedric following behind.

Roger, watching Cho leave the dance floor, belatedly realized that Fleur was addressing him. "Sorry?"

The French girl made a slightly exasperated sound, "So, Roger, would you mind 'orribly eef I asked you to escort me for a turn in ze rosebushes outside?"

"Oh, all right." Anything was fine. Really. Perhaps the fresh air outside would help clear his head, and moreover, he wouldn't be able to see Cho and Diggory waltzing around in each other's arms. Roger allowed Fleur to lead him out the hall and out the door, into the lovely rose-filled splendor that had taken Professors Sprout and Flitwick goodness knew how long to set up. 

Fleur led him down the path to a rosebush close to a stone reindeer sculpture. Back down their original path, they could hear rather strident-sounding blasts, and the unpleasant voice of Professor Snape.

"Ten points from Ravenclaw, Fawcett! And ten points from Hufflepuff too, Stebbins!"

Hurried footsteps resounded down the path, then died away in the distance. Roger looked at Fleur rather distractedly. She had a very odd look in her eyes, as if she were trying to come to a decision about something.

"It's nice out here, don't you thi-!"

His words were abruptly cut off as she, somewhat forcefully, pulled him close to her and kissed him on the lips.

It was only a moment, a moment when he was deciding what to do, before he let his arms come to rest on her shoulders and attempted to relax.  It didn't work.  He stood there, stiff and somehow exhausted as Fleur Delacour kissed him and felt… nothing.

Fleur released him a few moments later.  "Poutain de merde," she whispered under her breath.  "Roger Davies, get in 'ere _right now_."  With that said, she grabbed his hand and dragged him behind a particularly thorny bush.

"What-" Roger managed before she turned on him, all fury.

"I see ze way you aire watching ze girl 'oo nevair sits wis us at dinner anymore and stares at me as zough she would like me dead!" Fleur hissed.  Her volume was low, but her anger was evident on the strained, lovely face.  "You say you like me.  So I come to see for myself.  Batârd!"

Roger winced, for he had a very good idea of what she was saying despite his complete lack of knowledge of French.  "You're wrong.  She-"

"Oh non," Fleur said, her voice growing more French by the moment.  "Ne parle pas, ou je vais trouver quelquechose qui fermirait ta bouche pour toujours.  Charogne."  She took a deep breath and switched back into English.  "You should know enough about veela to undairstand, you eedeeot.  When we kiss someone, zat someone falls in love wis us… unless zey are truly in love wis someone else.  And _know_ it.  Merde!  I am not 'ere wis you so zat you can make la petite fille chinoise jealous!"  With that, she swung a small, delicate hand at him.

The small hand appeared to be quite strong, for Roger found himself flying out of the rosebush, quite dazed.  Roger looked up just as Fleur emerged, queenly and elegant despite her fury.  "We veela keel men 'oo deceive us," she said flatly.  "Eet eez in my nature… and I only let you go because I feel absolutely nosing for you eizer… and I managed to find ze two boys in zis entire school 'oo will not respond to me ll in ze course of one week."  She then launched into a string of muttered words which Roger was quite sure were very profane, for all the elegance she had while saying them.  "You English," she finally decided, "Are exceedingly _stupid_.  You know whaire to find me when you want to apologize."  With that, she swept off and Roger was left sitting on the cold December ground, wondering why the world was against him.


	13. Barely Breathing

~*Everything You Want*~

Chapter Thirteen: Barely Breathing

Thalia: Cho finds a new and unexpected friend in Hermione! We also find that canary creams don't work correctly on a certain tall, dark and handsome Slytherin boy (we love that species, don't we??!!), and basically, much funness ensues! w00t!

Dove: And Cedric is Saint Cedric no more.  Heaven forbid he became Gary Stu!  Now… what else?  Draco/Ginny plugging-ness abounds (I believe from this point on, there will be one in every chapter-collect them all, for a limited time only!) and there is much realization that perhaps we should throw in our oar and start an official Blaise/Calista SHIP.  It's too cute!

Disclaimer: The day we own Harry Potter, we shall invite all of the faithful reviewers of this story to a huger party where they shall be served by Hogwarts Quidditch hotties in loincloths.  Until you receive your invitation, assume that we don't own it.  Unless, of course, you're not reviewing.  Are _you going to let this lifetime opportunity pass you by?_

_"Everyone keeps asking, what's it all about?_

_I used to be so certain, and now I can't figure out_

_What is this attraction? I only feel my pain_

_There's nothing left to reason and only you to blame_

_Will it ever change? _

_'Cause I am barely breathing, and I can't find the air_

_I don't know who I'm kidding, imagining you care_

_And I could stand here waiting, a fool for another day_

_But I don't suppose it's worth the price, worth the price_

_The price that I would pay... but I'm thinking it over anyway.___

_I'm thinking it over anyway…"_

-Duncan Sheik, "Barely Breathing"

The ball went on, and Cho tried not to notice as Roger came back in from outside. She turned her face away from him... a moment too late. Her eyes had been riveted to the shiny red lipstick mark upon his lips, and all of the sudden, the fact that she had bested him... that she had given him through all her actions the perfect impression that she was going out with Cedric... the bitter victory filled her throat like acrid ashes.

Cedric, being Cedric, noticed her change in demeanor, "Are you all right?"

"I'm tired, and the ball is nearly over. Can we leave now?" Cho whispered softly, trying to keep the abject misery out of her voice. She didn't care if Roger and Fleur were snogging in the rosebushes! She _didn't!_

Cedric glanced covertly at the Ravenclaw Quidditch captain standing alone against the wall. Roger's eyes were fixed upon him and Cho, and filled with anger. Then, the Ravenclaw turned on his heel and stalked out. "All right, Cho. We can leave now, if you like."

"Thanks," Cho said softly, "I hope I didn't ruin the evening for you..."

"Oh, no," Cedric smiled down at her kindly, "How could you have? I'm honored to have gone with you... I just wished that you enjoyed it more."

"Oh, I did, I did..." Cho said hurriedly. She _had enjoyed parts of it... the parts that didn't involve Roger and Fleur were all quite lovely. Cedric nodded._

"All right, let's go then. Just let me have a brief word with Harry first," he said. Cho raised an eyebrow. He explained, "You know I told you that he was the one who told me about the dragons... well, I have to return the favor."

Cho nodded, and the two of them walked out. She waited at the stairs as Cedric quickly addressed Harry Potter, then walked back towards her. Together, they walked towards Ravenclaw, and when Cho got back to the portrait hole, she gave her friend a hug, muttered the password, and walked in.

Cedric watched with a small, somewhat wistful smile as she disappeared into the blue common room. She had smiled the whole time that night, but it was such a piteous smile, one that had been forced, unwilling, to remain on her face. His best friend was breaking her heart over a boy, and that boy might have loved her, but...

"Perhaps you should go back to _your common room, Diggory." Speak of the devil. Roger Davies was standing about two feet away from the entrance to the Ravenclaw common room, glaring at him, his voice infused with Prefect authority and anger. Cedric bristled._

"I was just escorting Cho back, that is not illegal, is it?"

"It's not your common room. It's against the rules," Davies was implacable. Cedric looked at the other boy, still in his dress robes. There was a faint mark that looked like lipstick on his face. No wonder Cho was so... and all of the events of the past few months came running through his brain, and Cedric Diggory, at long last, lost his general amenability and snapped.

"Oh really? And perhaps _you should not be snogging some foreign exchange student whom you barely know in the rosebushes! You're a cold-hearted one, Davies." Having said that, Cedric turned around and walked off before the other boy could say anything in reply._

            Cho was sitting on the floor, staring into the fire when Roger came into the room. Most people had already gone upstairs or were still outside, so the room was relatively peaceful. Cho, pink robes spread around her like the petals of a rose, was fingering the wreath she had been wearing in her lap, the flames dancing on her face, making her eyes shine as though with unshed tears. Despite his best effort, Roger remembered his dream of the year before, the beautiful, warm dream when he had kissed Cho in the firelight and told her he loved her, only to realize he was dreaming when he discovered her hair was short. He remembered how it had felt in his hands, how she had felt in his arms... and sighed. His eyes only lingered on her a moment longer before he walked slowly up the stairs, rubbing at the lipstick mark on his cheek.

Calista, who was curled up in a chair with her hair a mess and a translation of "Ruslan and Lyudmila" open on her lap sighed softly and brushed absently at the hair which was falling into her eyes. She was waiting for Cho to speak, but the older girl didn't seem to notice her presence. Finally, Calista cleared her throat and spoke herself. "It was a nice evening," she smiled softly into her book. "Thank you for worrying about me and checking in every hour, but Blaise and I did well enough."

Cho started, then smiled, her eyes still unfocused. "Mmm..." she agreed. "Good for you, Calista. I'm glad you enjoyed yourself."

"You're a lovely dancer," Calista said, closing her book. "I wish I could dance like that."

Cho swallowed a slightly watery chuckle-she had been fighting off tears for nigh near half an hour, and Roger coming in smelling all over of roses, moonlight, snow, and Fleur's perfume hadn't helped. "I've been doing it forever."

"Would you teach me?" Calista asked timidly. "I'd like to move like you do."

It was a soft, tentative question, but with a note of hope she knew Cho wouldn't be able to resist. And what Cho needed was some simple friendship right now. "Please?"

Cho stood, blinking away the tears, remembering asking Cecilia the same thing after seeing her and Mr. Davies dancing away one afternoon in their kitchen. "Of course. Come here."  Before long, the two of them were smiling. When Padma and Su came in a few minutes later, they settled on the couches to watch.

There were no tears shed in the Ravenclaw common room that night.

***

After the Yule Ball, Cho had, somehow, finally summoned the self-control to top looking at the Ravenclaw table altogether during meals. She sat with her back to them, and looked at Cedric, at Harry and the other Gryffindors, anything except Roger and Fleur cozying up together.

However, what she did not know was that nowadays, Fleur and Roger were on less than friendly terms. The part-veela spent a lot of time during meals hissing at him to not be such a "peeg-'eaded idiot" about his "feelings for zat girl 'oo 'ates me because she sinks zat I am taking you away from 'er". Thankfully, or perhaps not so thankfully for Roger, what she was whispering to him was not loud enough for the rest of the table to hear, and Cassandra and Melissa, among others, were certain that they were exchanging sweet nothings.

The two would discuss these assertions in great detail and with large amounts of speculation as they and Cho prepared for bed. Cho was not amused.

The tears would come at night. She had almost become accustomed to it. Another reason to hate Roger, and another sign that she loved him. Before him, she, Cho Chang, had never been a pathetic watering can like she was now. Damn him, and damn Fleur Delacour as well!

But then, she supposed that it was inevitable. Fleur... what boy _wouldn't want her? And she had deigned to choose Roger. All the blokes at the school were probably mad with envy, and he, not being stupid, would certainly keep her now that he had her. Lucky French hussy..._

But she could not spend her time on these things. The Second Task was coming up, and Cedric had confided that he had figured out the clue of the Golden Egg. Something of value would be taken from him by the Merpeople in the lake, and he would have to get it back. Now... exactly _what would be taken, and __how he would retrieve it... that was still unknown._

The two spent a good many days trying to figure out how he could possibly retrieve something from the bottom of the lake, and it had taken several evenings of frustrating fruitless searches until Cedric had lit upon the Bubble-Head Charm. It was a rather complex charm, and Charms was not her strongest subject (unlike both a vixenish part-veela and a beautiful blue-eyed Ravenclaw prat). Cedric reassured her that he would practice it in the large bath in the Prefects' bathroom until he got the hang of it.

A few weeks later, he reported success. Not a moment too soon, for the Second Task would be coming up in a week. Cho was happy and relieved for her friend. 

"At least now, you won't have any chance of being injured this time," she told him, "Now, if we only knew what it was that you would be retrieving from the lake..."

She would find out in a few days.

***

            The night before the Second Task, Cho was studying in the library, a book on Astronomy open to the page on the Orion constellation and a look of intense concentration on her face.  That was how Professor Flitwick found her.  He allowed himself a moment of fond pride in the hardworking girl who was such a pride to his house before clearing his throat, causing her to start and look up, brushing stray hairs from her face.  "Professor Flitwick!"  She looked mildly puzzled.  "Have I done something?  Forgotten something?  I thought that I might have-"

            He raised a hand and she instantly fell quiet.  "Not to worry, Miss Chang.  You've been keeping up admirably, despite all the research you have been aiding Mister Diggory with."  His eyes sparkled.  "Now, however, I'm afraid I will have to tear you from your books.  If you will come with me, please?"

            Cho, completely mystified, quickly put her books in the basket in the middle of the table for re-shelving and walked out of the library after the professor, who lead her up many sets of stairs before stopping in front of the large stone gargoyle that guarded Dumbledore's office, saying "lemon drops", and leading her up the stairs.  Once there, she discovered that, although Dumbledore wasn't there, his pet phoenix was resplendent in the corner (she had made Fawkes' acquaintance her first year when she had been caught sneaking into the kitchens) and a little, picture-perfect girl was sitting in the corner, her hand clutched tightly in Madame Maxime's.

            This little girl had long, silvery blonde curls and eyes of an icy blue in her perfectly heart-shaped face.  She couldn't have been any older than seven or eight, and at the moment, she looked quite terrified.  Despite her pristine appearance and childish sweetness, there was just something about her, Cho couldn't place what, that she didn't like.

            Professor Flitwick said "Professor Dumbledore will be here shortly to explain," and left.  Cho was wondering just what the little blonde girl who looked far too young for school would be doing here and what on earth she could have to do with her.

            Moments later, the door opened again and in came Professor McGonagall, Hermione Granger and the boy who had taken Padma to the Ball-Ron Weasley?-trailing behind her.  She sat them down and, with a stern look at both of them in turn (they weren't looking at each other) left the room as well.

            "Ah, so it's you for Cedric then, is it?" Hermione said.  "Should have known, I can't believe I was silly enough not to remember."

            "For Cedric?" Cho repeated.

            "Well yes," Hermione said.  "The thing he'll miss the most.  It's Ron for Harry, and me for Viktor, and I suppose _her for __Fleur," Hermione made a face.  Cho decided she liked her even as Madame Maxime glared._

            "Qu'est ce qu'elle a dit?" the little girl asked, her voice a tinkling bell.  Cho realized why she didn't like her-she reminded her of Fleur.

            "Elle n'aime pas que ta soeur est plus belle," the Beauxbatons Headmistress glared.  "Et aussi, elle veut frapper ce garçon rousse."

            The little girl giggled and looked at Hermione sympathetically.  Hermione sniffed.  "Stupid French bints," she said under her breath.  Cho grinned.

            "Oh good, everyone is here." Dumbledore entered the office and beamed down at Madame Maxime (as much as anyone could beam down on her), Cho, Ron, Hermione and the little blonde girl. 

"You four have been chosen as the four most precious things to the four champions," Dumbledore began, "Gabrielle Delacour for her older sister Fleur."

The little girl grinned happily at Dumbledore, who smiled back and offered her a lemon drop. She accepted with a toothy grin and a cheerful "Merci!"

"Hermione Granger for her escort Viktor Krum." Here, Ron snorted derisively, and Hermione glared at him. Cho felt her mouth quirk at the corners.

"Cho Chang for her... friend Cedric Diggory." Cho's eyes widened, and she saw Dumbledore smiling knowingly at her. She squirmed slightly, but Dumbledore simply continued. 

"And Ronald Weasley for his best friend Harry Potter." Ron's ears reddened just a little bit, and he looked at Dumbledore. 

"Say, Professor, how exactly are we going to be... er... kept underwater?"

"Professor Snape has been most kind," and here, Ron snorted again, only to be glared at and quelled by Hermione, "and has provided us with four vials of a sleeping draught that also contains something to make certain that you shall be able to breathe underwater. Tonight, you four shall sleep in the staff office, in sleeping bags. Before you go to bed, you are to take the potion. Then, you will fall asleep immediately and stay thus until you are lifted out of the water. The potion has been specifically brewed so that only after you break through the surface of the lake will you wake up."

Cho nodded slowly, running the information through her head. "All right, I understand, Professor."

"Excellent! Miss Granger, Mister Weasley, I'm hoping that you two understand as well?"

The other two Hogwarts students nodded, and Dumbledore smiled before turning to Professor McGonagall. 

"Minerva, you may bring them to their sleeping quarters. Madame Maxime and I shall explain to Mademoiselle Delacour."

Professor McGonagall nodded, and beckoned for Cho, Hermione and Ron to follow her. Soon, they reached a room and the professor unlocked the door. Sure enough, the table had been moved to the side, and four comfortable-looking sleeping bags, similar to the ones used last year when Sirius Black had broken into Hogwarts, had been placed upon the floor. "Professor Snape shall bring in the potions in an hour. Meanwhile, I suggest that you three prepare for bed. There is a bathroom over there," she pointed to a door at the end of the room. "Good night."

They took turns washing up, and when Ron went to shower, Hermione crawled into the sleeping bag next to Cho's, and the two girls started talking in low tones. 

"I'm worried about Harry," Hermione confided, "We were trying to help him find a way to breathe underwater when Professor McGonagall called us. I hope he'll be able to find a way."

Cho nodded, "I hope so too. Cedric is using a Bubble-Head Charm."

Hermione looked rather confused for a moment, and Cho briefly explained the purpose of the charm to her. The younger girl nodded, "I wish we knew how to cast that, but I don't think that we learn it until Advanced Charms."

"Well, that's all right. I'm not good at casting Charms either. I'm better at Transfiguration myself," Cho said, then she scowled. "Fleur bloody Delacour seems to like Charms, though. She'll probably try the same thing."

Hermione grimaced at the mention of Fleur's name, "Honestly! I don't see why the boys make such a fuss over her anyway! She's a part-veela and she's pretty, but you would think that the boys would see more than that! Gits..."

"I couldn't agree more," Cho narrowed her eyes. "She's been flirting with every boy at the Ravenclaw table since the day she's arrived! Bloody sick-making, really." 

"I know! And did you see how the hussy-"

"Hermione! I'm done with the shower!" Ron walked out of the bathroom, his red hair wet and plastered to his head. Hermione got out of her sleeping bag, and walked towards the bathroom. Ron picked up one vial of potion which Professor Snape had just dropped off and gulped it down with a grimace. Then, he set it down, and fell asleep almost right away.

Hermione was away, and Cho was the only Hogwarts student awake. Gabrielle Delacour looked at her with a little smile as she brushed out her damp hair. 

"Es-tu la petite fille chinoise de qui Fleur dit que son ami le capitan de l'équipe de Quidditch est amoureux?   Elle a parlé de toi dans ses lettres."

Cho blinked. "Sure, whatever you say. I'm going to bed." she grabbed a second vial of the sleeping potion, and downed it as well. Soon, all thoughts vanished magically from her head, and she slept the best she had for days.

***

            The first thing Roger noticed at breakfast that morning was that Cho was missing. His eyes happened to gloss over the Hufflepuff table, as they happened to so often lately, to behold a grim-looking Cedric sitting very much alone and barely touching his breakfast, despite the instance of most of the people at his table clustered around him. Roger's eyes skimmed the Ravenclaw table, but she wasn't there either. He pretended not to be worried. It didn't work. Cho wouldn't sleep in on the day Diggory would be competing. "Orla," he called.

The girl two chairs down immediately came over. "Yes?" she said, her eyes sparkling with admiration for her often-times tutor.

"Would you do me a favor?" Roger asked, trying to sound nonchalant. When Orla nodded eagerly, he continued. "Go ask Diggory where Chang has gotten to, would you?"

Orla nearly swallowed her tongue, this being the last thing anyone would expect Roger Davies to say. Fleur looked veiledly amused at his other side. "Er... all right," Orla finally said. "Be right back." She ran across the Hall.

"Even for you, zat was razer obvious," Fleur said. But she looked quite nervous as well. "And you could 'ave asked me anyway.  I am relatively sure I know where your fille chinoise 'as gone."

Before Roger to ask what she meant, Orla came back over. "He says that she's probably in the lake," she said, looking very confused.

Fleur nodded. "Oui. Taken by ze Merpeople... I sought it odd zat my mozer was 'ere wisout Gabrielle."

Roger's head spun. "Taken... by the Merpeople?"

At the same time, Orla's eyes lit up. "We have Merpeople?"

"Yeah, they live in the lake with the squid," Roger said absently. "Never even seen them before, though. Why would they want Cho?"

"Well, ze Second Task," Fleur said, as if explaining to a child. "It 'as been said zat whatever we 'old dearest will be taken from us. So, ma soeur is in ze lake... zere are a few Gryffindors missing, are zere not?... and of course, your Cho Chang. Or razer, Cedric's Cho, I suppose." She stood, brushing her hair behind her. "If you will pardon me, I 'ave to go get ready." With that, she left. Orla, seeing Roger's face, also left. Roger was left wondering if he should strangle Cedric Diggory or wait until Diggory saved Cho and strangle him _then._

It wasn't a very easy choice.

            After breakfast, the students made their way down to the Hogwarts Lake to watch the proceedings of the Second Task. Roger immediately made a beeline for the front row, gazing at the murky surface of the lake rather dubiously. The lake was deep... and at this time of the year, it must be freezing cold. He hated the feeling that he might just have to place his faith in Diggory to make sure that Cho would be all right. 

He sat down next to a small red-headed girl wearing a Gryffindor scarf. She, too, was anxiously looking at the water, but gave him a polite, if rather quiet hello when he sat down next to her.

"Hello," he said back.

"My brother is in the lake; he's the thing that Harry will miss the most," she remarked, "I'm Ginny Weasley, by the way."

"Roger Davies," he replied. "A pleasure." Although, in truth, he was too preoccupied with what could possibly be happening to Cho in the lake to be much concerned with other things. 

"Say, you're the Ravenclaw Quidditch captain, aren't you?" the redheaded girl said softly, as if trying to make conversation. 

"Yes," Roger answered. Quidditch. Cho... flying and laughing... 

The girl nodded and smiled slightly. "No wonder you're sitting in front, then. You must be worried about your Seeker. She's quite good. That _is why you're watching so close, isn't it?"_

Roger winced. Was he really _that obvious? Or was it that all the girls in the world were conspiring against him, each in her own way? "I'm graduating this year. I will probably never see her again," he said tersely._

"Oh, I see. No wonder, then. You will miss her something awful when you're gone."

While Roger was squirming under the casual conversation of a little third year, two rows above, Calista, seated next to Blaise Zabini of Slytherin, was watching the proceedings with great interest. 

The Slytherin boy looked where his companion was looking, and a little smirk appeared on his dark face, "He's really besotted with Delacour, isn't he?"

Calista grinned, "Not quite. You're not really familiar with the goings-on in my house." 

"Oh? And what sinful, depraved things are going on that I should know about?" Blaise asked, his voice low and amused, raising one eyebrow suggestively. Someone hawking chocolate walked to their row, and he absentmindedly fished out two sickles, buying two bars and handing one to Calista. Calista glanced up, and saw two redheaded individuals dashing away. 

"Blaise, perhaps you should not..." A pop, and Blaise disappeared, to be replaced with a sleek... raven?

"Blimey! Would you look at that?" One of the Weasley twins looked back at the bewildered bird, which was standing next to a piece of half-eaten chocolate, and grinned, "Bloody brilliant!"

"Nice look for you, Zabini," a bored drawl sounded next to them. Draco Malfoy, for once not sitting with his two goons and Pansy Parkinson, sat down at Blaise's other side. He glanced briefly towards the front row at the back of Ginny's head for a moment before turning back to the raven. "Prettier than your usual self, that's for sure."

The bird turned towards Draco, obviously intending to peck the blond boy viciously for the jibe, but before he could do any such thing, his feathers molted, and he found himself human once more, sitting between a lightly giggling Calista and a smirking Draco. He scowled slightly. 

"Come now, it wasn't that funny."

Calista paused mid-giggle.  "Oh, it was." 

"I'm not laughing," he folded his arms. Calista picked up one particularly long black feather that had fallen onto her lap, and proceeded to brush it quickly about his face and neck, tickling him until he let out a strangled chuckle and squirmed. 

"Yes, you are."

***

It wasn't much later that Cho awoke groggily to penetrating cold and a multi-voice gasp of relief. She saw that Cedric was holding her up, swimming determinedly towards the shore, where spectator stands were set up. She shivered.

"Morning, sleepy head," Cedric said with a strained smile. "Nice to see you awake."

Cho laughed. "Morning to you too, oh valiant white knight." She began to swim too, making it easier for Cedric to move and a much shorter journey to the shore. Once there, Madam Pomfrey descended on the two of them with blankets (which were all for the good, as Cho's teeth were chattering loudly) and Pepperup potion. After both of these had been administered with great effect and she was shivering far less, Cho sat back to watch the proceedings. "Wonder where Harry is?" she mused.

"Still at the bottom," Cedric said. "He got there first, you know. But the Merpeople wouldn't let him take all of the hostages up, and he refused to leave without making sure all of you were safe." There was admiration in Cedric's voice. "He motioned for me to go ahead... well, Granger's up, anyway, but as for the little girl..."

"The French bint's sister," Cho said flatly. Still, as minutes ticked away, she began to worry.

Finally, as the crowd was growing restless and there were discussions of whether perhaps someone should go down and check on the progress as the time was up, three heads broke the surface of the lake. A very exhausted-looking Harry Potter was barely holding up Ron Weasley _and Gabrielle Delacour. The former woke up first, and helped him get the latter, who looked quite panicked, to shore. Cho sighed in relief and Cedric let out a breath she wasn't aware he had been holding._

In the ensuing chaos, while Dumbledore spoke to the leader of the Merpeople and a hysterical Fleur showered Harry and Ron with affection while her little sister clung to her, Cho looked up at the stands and waved, with a laugh at Calista's smirking face and the glossy black feather she had tucked behind her ear, despite Blaise Zabini's efforts to take it away.


	14. Good Guys

~*Everything You Want*~

Chapter Fourteen: Good Guys

Dove: Yet another muchly-dragged-out angst-fest… although… I loathe to write the next chapter… throughout the course of this fic I have grown to love him far more than in canon.  Still… *holds up black-rimmed "Remember Cedric Diggory" flag* Remember, and understand.  All love is different, and the love he and Cho shared will indeed leave a wound in her heart…

Thalia: *hugs Ced and cries into his shirt* Indeed... Cedric is wonderful, but his time, and the remaining time for the fic, is very short indeed. In this chapter, besides showing why Cho was so close to him, we have dreams... oh, so many dreams... but what shall come true? Read... and perhaps soon, you shall find out!

Disclaimer: You do realize that if we owned them, they would all go by names such as "Roggie", "Blaisey", "Dracie", and "Ceddie"... and that they would have constantly bruised ribs from repeated glomping without the protection of shirts.

_"You dream a dream, but you never wake up_

_You're so afraid, that the dream is over_

_Open your eyes and you'll see_

_Daydreaming won't conquer me, no it won't conquer me_

_'Cause only the good guys can get what they're coming for_

_And all of the dreamers must take, what's apart_

_Only the good guys receive, what they came here for_

_And all you dreamers will leave with a broken heart…"_

-Aqua, "Good Guys"

Cho rubbed her eyes wearily as she closed her potions book. Now that the Second Task was over and there would be several months before the Final Task, she was spending most of her spare time studying for her upcoming O.W.L.s.

This evening, she had spent several hours going over all of her Potions notes, and being quizzed by Penelope. The latter had finally gone to bed a moment ago, and had told Cho not to stay up too late. Cho had given the Head Girl a noncommittal nod, and now, moved to the couch by the fire to once again try to cast the Patronus Charm. The Common Room was deserted: this would be the perfect opportunity to practice with no one to disrupt.

She closed her eyes and determinedly spoke the words, but nothing came except a vast headache and a misty cloud from her wand. She sighed, and rubbed her temples, before picking up her wand and trying again. 

Soon, the draining effect of casting the charm forced her to sit down on the couch. She stared morosely into the fire. She _would_ get it! She would! Just because she wasn't...a long-blonde-haired someone... didn't mean that she couldn't do it! 

Trying to ignore the ache in her protesting head, she once again focused what was left of her energy, and spoke, "Expecto Patronum!" 

This time, besides the worsening headache and the indistinct cloud, there was an added soporific effect. Cho's head drooped, and her body slid into a fetal position on the couch. She fell fast asleep within minutes, her wand still in hand. 

***

Roger Davies walked out of his dorm room and down the stairs in a black mood. What was it with those idiots, anyway? Kyle Cornfoot, one of his roommates, started with it that evening. "So, Davies... How's it going with the veela?"

The others had gotten into the act immediately, "She didn't do that well in the Second Task, I'm sure she needed some comforting." Chris Fox had said in a lascivious voice, and all of them had sniggered. Roger had not been amused.

Finally, he had left the room, saying something about organizing Prefect rounds, and the others had laughed, Kyle remarking that he was sure that Fleur would help him organize them if he asked nicely. Roger had left the room before the urge to hex any of them had grown too strong. 

He entered the common room, expecting to find it empty. Instead, he found Cho fast asleep on the couch, her wand in her hand, an open book on Patroni lying on the floor next to her. Her hair was growing longer... now, it reached a little past her shoulders, and half of it slid forward to obscure her face. He wondered idly if it was long enough to braid yet.

She stirred fitfully in her sleep, and shivered slightly. Roger frowned. She had obviously fallen asleep studying, and the fire was dying down. "Accio blanket!" he whispered, and carefully, so as to not wake her, he covered her sleeping form up to her chin. 

However, she did not stop shivering. 

***

Cho was walking in Hogsmeade. It was a crisp winter's day, and the sun was setting in the sky. She was happy... it was Christmas, and she had just gotten a new broomstick from her parents. Now, maybe, she could win the Quidditch Cup for Ravenclaw! Roger would be so proud...

She felt a tap on her shoulder, followed by a tug on her... long... braid, and spun around. "Tag! You're it!" Roger laughed at her, and ran off. She giggled, and chased him. They were happy. They were friends. It was a beautiful world.

She ran... and the sky darkened as the sun set. 

"Roger? Where are you?"

No answer. She scowled, "No fair! You can't hide! I'll just have to look for you, then. And I'll hit you with a tickling hex as soon as I find you, make no mistake!"

He was not in his house, or hers. He was not in Honeydukes, the post office, or any of the stores. Where could he be? "Roger, this is not funny! Stop being mean!"

Finally, she made her way to the Shrieking Shack. True, her mother had told her harrowing stories about the screams that used to issue forth from the place when she had been a student, but the place had been silent and peaceful as far as Cho could remember. And it would be just _like_ Roger to hide there, and not expect her to look for him. Well, she would show _him_!

Bravely, she walked into the dilapidated hut. Darkness, and no sign of Roger. "Lumos," she whispered. The room was filled with broken and dusty furniture, and... what looked like blood on the floor. She felt a little bit of apprehension and fear creep up her spine. No, she needed to find Roger! He was finally being friendly with her again, she needed to find him!! And they needed to get out of this place! Together! 

Setting her lips, she strode into the next room. Ah, there he was! Standing in the shadows, back to her, in a long cloak. She shivered with the cold, but forced cheer and courage into her voice, "Found you!"

He slowly turned around, and Cho felt her insides turn to ice. Then, a dizzying, horrible feeling in her head.

She found herself staring at... not Roger, but a _Dementor_! 

It advanced on her, drawing a deep, rattling breath, one maggoty, gnarled hand reached as if to capture her. An angry, _cold_ voice filled her head...

"A likely story, Chang… fifty points from Ravenclaw for staying out all night, and be thankful it's not ten times that!" 

Blue eyes cold as chips of ice, and filled with hatred. Stark, inexorable, chilling hatred for her. He glared at her for a second, then sneered, and all of the sudden a silvery-blonde beauty appeared at his side, taking his hand and leading him away from her...

The Dementor advanced, and the horrible images in her head grew sharper... the accusing masculine voice growing louder and more insistent. 

_"NOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!"_ she screamed, forcing herself to picture an image of herself... dancing with him... that one last time before her fourth year... _"EXPECTO PATRONUM!"_

This time, she felt something... something huge, distinct and powerful shooting from her wand arm, through her wand, and outward. The Dementor recoiled, and disappeared. 

She found herself sitting bolt-upright on the couch in the common room, wand drawn, staring at Roger, who was watching her with an incredulous expression on his face. And hovering between them, issuing from her wand, was... 

A bright silver eagle. Her Patronus. _His_ Patronus. They were not supposed to be the same. No two Patroni were supposed to be the same. Why... 

Without another word, she ducked her head and all but took off like a bat out of hell out of the common room and up the stairs to her dorm.

***

            Roger stood, his eyes staring unblinkingly at the place where the silver eagle had vanished.  His mind was blank, and it took him a few moments before he could shake his head slowly and sit down as if in a daze.  Patroni weren't ever supposed to be the same!  He had asked Professor Lupin about it last year.  Truth be told, he had resorted to asking Professor Lockhart about it the year before when he was learning it in secret (as Flitwick was showing no signs of teaching it).  Lockhart had somehow steered it into a conversation about his fanclub, and Roger had left, sighing.  He had asked Professor Lupin the very first day of next term, and been answered with a prompt "No, it doesn't happen".  As Roger had very much liked and respected this professor, despite what he was, he had taken it at face value.

            Now, however, he was seeing one of the most set magical structures he had ingrained into his brain unravel.  After all, according to his research, a Patronus came equally from the heart and the soul of the caster.  There were no such things as hearts and souls that were exactly alike.  The only way this could have happened was if the two casters were in reality the same person split, or… or… well, something else, he thought he might have read about something else, but it was so unheard of that speculation as to this point was considered silly and inane… he just wished he remembered what it had said, exactly.

            Sighing, he stood, deciding to run to the library between classes the next day and see if he could find it.  He didn't even want to think about leaving the common room-he knew that since a few first years had been caught out of bed, Filch patrolled the corridors around Ravenclaw particularly gleefully.  As it wasn't his night to do prefect rounds, whatever he had told Chris, Kyle, Neil, and Robert, he thought it was best all around to go up to bed.  He just wished he wasn't so sure he wouldn't sleep.

            Opening the door to his room, he found that Robert's bed-curtains were drawn.  Chris and Neil, however, were engaged in a game of chess and Kyle seemed to be brewing some sort of potion in a small, collapsible cauldron.

            "Who just screamed down there, Roggie?" Kyle enquired.  Roger winced.  He hated that pathetic nickname.

            "Don't call me Roggie," he told his roommate.  "It was Chang."

            Neil looked up from the game, which he was winning, and grinned.  "What happened, did she walk in upon you and Fleur shagging on the couch or something?"

            Roger calmly walked over, overturned the chessboard, and punched Neil in the face, sending him sprawling on the floor.  He then walked up to Kyle.  "Sleeping potion," he said, face blank.

            "Now come on, Roger, really," Kyle argued.  "Just because I'm good at Potions doesn't mean I keep one lyi-"

            "Now, Cornfoot," Roger cut him off.

            Kyle sighed, fished in the pocket of his robes, and handed him a small vial.  "You owe me, Davies."

            Roger smiled tightly.  "Consider my payment not punching you to the floor as well.  I would sorely like to."  He swallowed the potion and felt his mind immediately relax.  "Don't call me Roggie," were his last words before he crawled into bed, fully dressed, and fell instantly asleep.

***

The weather was starting to warm up again, and he felt the sun on his face. It was early springtime, and the cloudy cold of winter had passed. Roger was sitting outside, a book in his lap, by the birdbath in his yard. 

There was a soft note of tinkling laughter behind him, and suddenly, two small hands covered his eyes. "Guess who?" the voice was familiar… spritely, spirited, young and happy... 

He turned around, and saw her, standing behind him. It was... not Cho. But the girl looked very much like Cho indeed. Except for slight differences in the lines about the face, and hair a shade lighter, she could have been Cho.

"Cho?"

"Silly! It's Charisse!" the girl giggled, and took his hand in her small one. Roger blinked. He didn't know anyone named Charisse. The girl continued speaking.

"Mother wants to know if you're going to come to dinner."

"Mother?" Roger blinked. There was something very, very strange going on... 

"You thought I was Mother for a moment!" the girl Charisse grinned, "But I'm not. She sent me out to fetch you for dinner."

All of the sudden, things clicked into place in his bewildered brain. Mother was Cho. This little girl was Cho's daughter... Cho and _his_ daughter. It _had_ to be... otherwise, why would Cho send her to fetch him to dinner? All of the sudden, he matched her grin, and stood up. 

"All right, lead the way then, Charisse!" The girl smiled, and led him by the hand to the door of Cho's house.

The inside of the house smelled of baking bread and some sort of spicy oriental concoction.  Charisse giggled and let Roger's hand go, running into the kitchen.  Slowly, charmed, very afraid that this wasn't real, Roger followed her down the hallway.  There were pictures on the walls.  The little girl, from babyhood to her present age.  A baby boy.   Pictures of Cho's parents and other witches and wizards he didn't know.  Cho looking delicate and shining with happiness in a long, white wedding gown.  The next was a wedding picture where all the participants stood grouped together, waving.  Just as he was about to examine this one, Charisse appeared.  "Come _on_," she said impatiently, and dragged him away.

In the kitchen, Cho was standing with an apron around her waist, stirring something in a wok with chopsticks.  She gave an apologetic smile.  "Roger!  It will be just a minute.  Charisse, darling, set the table please," she added.

The little girl took a moment to look at the cradle in the corner and make a face at the baby inside before clattering plates, glasses and silverware.  "Should I help, or-"

Cho laughed.  "Oh, don't be silly!  You're a guest."

Roger blinked.  A guest?  But wasn't he-

"Ced, if you don't put that paperwork away and have dinner with your family this instant, I shall leave it to get cold!" Cho called.

And into the kitchen through the door to the study strode Cedric Diggory.  He reached into the cradle and picked up the baby, looking quite adept, as though he had done it a hundred times.  "Sorry, dear.  But you know those Romanian diplomats.  You have to read what they say a hundred times to make sure they haven't put transfiguring you into a beetle in the terms."

Cho smiled up at him, eyes shining with love and contentment.  "You can do it later," she declared.  "Right now, we have a guest."

Cedric turned and grinned in a friendly manner at the pillar-still Roger.  "Roger!  Long time no see!  How's France treating you, then?  You write so rarely anymore.  The last time we saw you was when Charisse was born.  You haven't even met Cedric Jr."  He reached out with the bundled baby.  "Go on, get acquainted."  Handing the baby over, he went and wrapped his arms around Cho, kissing her soundly.

Roger took the child woodenly and stared down at the baby, who opened Cedric's misty gray eyes-Cedric's eyes had they not been slanted-and gurgled at him.

With a scream of frustration and desperation lodged in his throat, Roger sat up in bed.  It was nearly dawn.

Roger was surprised that he was able to go through all his classes the next day without screaming. The only thing that stopped him from skipping Divination entirely that afternoon was the fact that Professor Trelawney, during the last lesson, had specifically asked that he talk to her after class.

In retrospect, Roger felt that, perhaps, he should have skipped after all. 

Divination had gone on without anything too unusual. Roger studiously avoided looking at anything or anyone but the crystal ball in front of him, and had listened with half an ear at Trelawney's lugubrious predictions. Oh... for this day... all of this... stuff... just to be over!

"Davies!" Trelawney's voice cut through his muddled thoughts, and Roger forced himself to pay attention.

"Yes?"

"You have not told me what you had seen in your crystal ball," the Divination professor said with a little sniff. Roger gave a shrug. What was there to see? Nothing but swirling mist. But of course, he couldn't exactly say _that..._

Deciding to oblige the professor's penchant for the macabre and melancholy, he said in a deadpan, sarcastic voice, "Lots of turmoil, death and heartbreak. People are going to suffer horrible fates, shocking revelations shall be made, and the Earth shall careen out of orbit, and basically, all of us are doomed."

Several of his classmates tittered softly, but Professor Trelawney suddenly looked thoughtful. "Davies, I recall telling you that I wanted a word as soon as possible."

Roger said nothing. The professor waved a hand at the other students, telling them that they could leave, it was the end of class, and turned back to Roger.

"My dear boy, you must know by now what it is that I am keeping you here for."

"No, actually I don't," Roger replied abruptly, adding mentally that he didn't particularly care to know, either.

Trelawney looked scandalized. "My boy, you are gifted with the Sight! Surely by now you must have noticed... your deep perception... your spectacular _gift. This is a rarity indeed... you must have experienced some premonitions?"_

"Not that I know of," Roger replied tersely. Trelawney looked frankly surprised.

"But that prediction you made... it is precisely what shall happen! I, too, have Seen it when I gaze into the depths of the Orb."

Roger was now quite certain that he was _not a Seer. But Trelawney continued, "If not premonitions, have you seen any omens? Perhaps..." and here her voice hushed dramatically, "Prophetic dreams?"_

Roger took an involuntary step back, and the professor smiled, "A-ha! I knew it! I always recognize the signs of a true Seer! You must inform me, my dear, what it is that you see in those dreams, what it is that happens to the people you know, the ones you love and the ones you hate... tell me all, Davies..."

No! No! This was... Roger's face contorted and he quickly grabbed his belongings, practically dashing to the exit. "Nothing! I see nothing!" He all but sprang out of the room, and slammed the door behind him.

"Never be afraid of your Sight, Davies! It will be a guide and solace to you, to help you all your life!" he heard her voice, drifting from inside the classroom, soft and misty as usual, but somehow feeling as though it was forcibly and painfully drilling a hole in his head.

***

            The months flew by, and the pattern of studying for O.W.L.s and making Prefect rounds was so comforting, Cho hardly ever let herself think about Roger and any other thing Roger-related except at night.  At night she dreamed, vividly.  Always scenes of her and Roger together, sometimes times past and sometimes what looked like the future.  She would be happy, and then the dream would change, and become either indescribably frightening or tearjerkingly sad.  Then she would wake up and, fighting back tears, open a book and study so that she wouldn't have to think at all, except about how many unicorn tail hairs to mix with how many fireflowers to cure rheumatism and how many nations of Merfolk there were in the Pacific Ocean.

            Then she would get up, shower, and go to class in a daze.  Even Melissa and Cassandra knew better than to bother her.  Cedric was her leaning post.  He now knew the password for Ravenclaw, for he had carried her up to bed when she had succumbed to exhaustion in the Great Hall and later the library.  The first time, he had left her a teasing note saying that she looked ravishing covered with mashed potatoes (she had fallen asleep in her plate).  The second time he didn't leave anything, but looked very worried.

            On the warm, balmy June night before the Final Task, Cedric's owl tapped the windowpane, and Cho raised her hand to let it in, engrossed as she was in _Ruslan__ and Lyudmila, which Calista had handed her and told to read, saying she studied too much and relaxed too little._

            She didn't have to even read the note asking for an Astronomy Tower meeting, she simply stood, set the book down, making her place with a tissue paper bookmark, and headed out the portrait hole, down the hall, and up the stairs, a notebook tucked under her arm and thinking that perhaps she would get some studying for Astronomy done afterwards, since she was going in the first place.

            Cedric stood in the Tower, his hands clasped behind his back, his head raised to the stars.  She came in softly, but he heard her.  "You know, I wonder, did the Founders stand up here and look at the stars?  What was it they saw?  And a thousand years later, when new children have come to Hogwarts and they stand here and look up, what will they see?"

            Cho smiled slightly and stood by his side, raising her eyes as well and beginning to name constellations in her mind.  "You're in a philosophical mood tonight," she remarked.  "Almost melancholy."

            Cedric shrugged.  "Perhaps."

            "So, what is it that you wanted to talk to me about, Ced? Have you found out anything new about the Final Task?" Cho asked. Cedric shook his head.

"No, I don't want to talk about that. But there's something that's far more important, something that I've noticed going on for far too long..."

"What could be more important than the Final Task right now?" Cho asked him, a perplexed expression on her face.

Cedric turned to her, remaining silent for a few seconds, gazing into her eyes as if probing her psyche. Finally, just as she was about to squirm under his scrutiny, he spoke.

"Well, for starters, my best friend, and the fact that she's been heartbroken for nearly two years. I've been watching you, Cho, and this just can't go on."

"W-what can't go on?" Cho said weakly. She had a good idea of what he was talking about, but...

"You go through the motions of life. You go to your classes, do your Prefect rounds, smile at everyone without seeing anyone. Except for him, and everything that surrounds him. You can't go on like this. To the rest of the world, you might seem like you're just fine, but I know better."

Cho's jaw tightened, "That's... my business. And... there's nothing... anyone can do... about it."

Cedric gave her a wry smile. And then, out of the blue, he uttered something that caused Cho to nearly choke with surprise. "He loves you, you know."

_"W-what?!"___

"Roger. The very same boy who used to pull your hair. The one who went into conniptions when you got hurt on the Quidditch pitch. He loves you. Always has."

Cho's eyes widened, and she felt herself involuntarily backing away, "B-but..."

But Cedric continued, his eyes still fixed upon her rapidly whitening face, "And you love him, too."

Cho felt the cold stone wall behind her back. She had nowhere left to go, and at the moment, she also did not have anything to say. All she could do was stare at her friend, who was looking at her in an affectionate, somewhat sad way. She shook her head numbly.

Cedric grinned wryly, "For a Ravenclaw, you can be really dense sometimes, Cho Chang. Think about it: he's so very protective of you. He looks at me like he'd love nothing more than to hex me from here to Italy. But he never used to, until it seemed like I was taking you away from him. He goes to the Yule Ball with Fleur Delacour, only to watch _you all night, and not pay any attention to what she's saying. He can't stand to see us together, because he would want nothing more than to be in my place, or what he fancies is my place."_

Cho felt her cheeks start to burn, and Cedric went on, now looking at her like one might look at a favorite, if somewhat stubborn and silly little sister, "And you... I still have your letter to me last summer, when you had cut off your hair," he dug into the pocket of his robe, and extracted a rather crinkled sheet of parchment. Unfolding it, he read a small excerpt aloud, "'And as much as I hate to admit it, it hurts... it hurts to be invisible to your oldest friend... it hurts that his mates all give me strange looks... it hurts when after Quidditch practices, he goes straight up to the boys' dormitory instead of chatting with me. How could he do that, when I still don't know what unforgivable thing I did to incite this behavior? So now, my hair is short... take that, Roger!' Now... would you have cut off your hair for no other reason than spite, if you weren't trying to hurt him as much as he had hurt you? And for him to have hurt you that much... don't you think that you must love him?"

Finally, Cho managed to choke out a short sentence. "He... is a prat..."

Cedric chuckled, "Be that as it may, you love him anyway. Or else... why would you still let him upset you? Many people are prats. I've never seen you shed tears over Marcus Flint, now... and don't tell me that _that was not the biggest prat on this side of Britain."_

A weak, somewhat despairing chuckle escaped Cho's lips, "Well... I... Roger, he... Fleur..."

"Cho, there's nothing more between Roger and Fleur than between you and me. They're mere friends, if that. Now... promise me that you'll think about this, and sort it out. I don't want to see my best friend hurt any longer." Done saying what he had to say, Cedric strode forward, and dropped a warm, brotherly kiss on her forehead. He gave her a hug, and wished her good night before walking out of the Astronomy Tower.

That was the last time that Cho saw Cedric alive.


	15. Hold Her Closer

~*Everything You Want*~

Chapter Fifteen: Hold Her Closer

Thalia: *cries* That's all I have to say, really.

Dove: I concur.  I cried writing this chapter.  I hope it touches you as well.

Disclaimer: Rowling never wrote this much angst.

_"So hold her closer when she cries _

_Hold her closer when she feels _

_She needs a hand to hold _

_Someone who'll never let her go again _

_And hold her closer when she's down _

_When her world is upside down _

_Turn it around _

_Hold her close…"_

-Blessid Union of Souls, "Hold Her Closer"

The warm and sunny day of the Final task, Cho spent in the last round of O.W.L.s.  After her exams were finished and she was relatively sure of her good scores, she retired to her bed to nurse a monster headache which had come out of nowhere.  She dozed through dinner and awoke as the sun was beginning to set.  She jumped up, wishing she could yell at someone for not waking her up sooner, but realizing that she had probably been sleeping soundly as the dead (what after her Potions O.W.L., which had been particularly heinous) and even if someone had tried, she had probably ignored them.

            Throwing on her robes, donning her shoes, and running a hand through her hair, Cho dashed down the stairs.  She knew the Final Task started precisely at dusk, and she would be lucky to get down the stairs and out the door in time to see the Champions enter the maze.  There was no way she could see Cedric now and wish him good luck, as much as she wanted to.  Well, she would see him after the Task, which he was sure to win.  Of course Ced had to win.  They'd worked so hard together.  He and Harry Potter were in the lead, and Harry, as lucky a boy as he seemed to be, simply couldn't be up to Ced's level.  So, Cho was looking forward to a celebration of gargantuan proportions after the Task.

Indeed, she reached the Quidditch pitch (which looked very little like the Quidditch pitch at the moment) just as the first shrill whistle rang out.  By the time she managed to get close enough to see the entrance, she beheld only a nervous Fleur and a surly Krum (then again, Krum always looked rather surly).  The second whistle sounded.  Krum took off.  Cho wasn't quite awake enough to smirk at Fleur's last place position.

She found Penelope in the crowd and made her way to her slowly.  "Do you feel better now?" Penny asked.

Cho nodded.  "Oh, intensely.  I needed the sleep."  The final whistle sounded.

Cedric was looking for you beforehand," Penelope said.  "I told him you were probably still asleep.  He seemed glad."

"He's been telling me to get more rest."  Cho blushed a little, trying not to think about what else Ced had been telling her lately.  "I'll be here when he comes out, anyway."

 Penny nodded.  "Yes.  It's no great loss.  I only wish… we don't really see much… kind of like the last one really… of course, you wouldn't be able to tell, as you were in the lake at the time."

"It's still exciting, isn't it?" asked Mandy Brocklehurst, sidling up to them, Su and Lisa in tow.  "I can just feel it in the air."

The other Chinese girl looked excited as well.  "Yes, it's so frenzied!  But happy too."  A feminine scream sounded and the girls turned their heads as one towards the tall walls of the maze.  "Except that," Su was quick to add.  "That didn't sound happy at _all."_

Red sparks shot up from somewhere within the maze, and immediately, Professors McGonagall and Flitwick got up from their seats to see what was going on. Cho, craning her neck, and heard an exclamation of surprise from within the maze. 

"I wonder what's going on in there," Su remarked at her side, "Someone's been disqualified now... red sparks means a forfeit. Sounded like Delacour from the screams." 

Cho nodded, and bit down a smile. 

True enough, a rather grim-faced Professor Flitwick levitated Fleur out a few moments later. The blonde girl had been stunned. The Beauxbatons students made sounds of discontent and disappointment, and Cho noticed the little girl, Gabrielle, start talking very fast with someone who must be her mother, in French. But... this was very odd... 

If Fleur had been stunned... how could she have shot up the red sparks? Something was not right. A slight chill raced down her spine and she shivered involuntarily. 

"I hope that Ced is all right," she whispered to herself.

"So," Lisa remarked from her other side, "if Cedric wins, what're you going to do?"

"Congratulate him, celebrate for a little while, the usual," Cho said, her eyes still riveted upon the maze. "I wonder how the rest of them are doing in there."

"Well, there doesn't seem to be too much happening right now. Mind, we can't see a thing with that hedge, and besides, it's getting dark. What's the point of watching if we can't see anything anyway? Rather stupid..." Padma Patil remarked. Cho nodded. She _wished that she could see what was going on, just to ascertain that nothing that __should not be going on was not going on. _

The conversation then shifted to plans for the summer. Su was going to China, and Mandy seemed quite envious. "I'm not going anywhere, and Gordon, the big lug, has invited his girlfriend over to our house for a few weeks. Just what I need... to watch the two playing kissy-face on the sofa every day..." The girls laughed, even Cho. 

"Gordon has a girlfriend?! How rude, he never told me! Ooh, I will have to tease him about this!" she grinned slightly, "Who is she?"

Mandy shrugged expansively, "Some girl from Gryffindor... I think she's Oliver Wood's sister."

All of the girls collectively laughed, Cho the hardest of all. "Well, I can see why he's been keeping mum about it! The sister of the Gryffindor captain! Well, I suppose it's better than falling for someone related to the Slytherin team..."

"Well, although I'm sure that Marcus Flint would love to have a go at him, I don't think that Gordon swings that way," Padma deadpanned, "And besides, Gordon is liable to knock out the guinea pig teeth with his Beater's club."

"Hey, this is my brother you are speculating about! Stop it, the mental images are killing me!" Mandy complained. Cho smiled. Oh, but it felt great to laugh again! 

Her laughter would be short-lived indeed. 

All of the sudden, the peace was broken again, this time by screams. Cho stiffened. Those screams... Cedric! What was going on in there? 

Then, a cry of "Stupefy!" Harry. And the screams ceased. No red sparks. Cho relaxed slightly, and fervently thanked the Gryffindor champion under her breath. Now... it was dark already. They must be getting close to their target. She simply had to wait.

***

The time ticked by, and still, there was no sign of anyone coming out of the maze. Soon, it was completely dark, and the girls close by began to complain about hunger. Cho absently conjured up a plateful of almond cookies, and passed it around, much to their gratitude. It would disappear in a bit, after they had eaten it, so they would be hungry again in an hour or so, but it would do for now.

Finally, much, much later, there was some sign of movement at the end of the maze. Cho could not see... it was too far off from where she was stationed, but all of the sudden, exclamations of surprise and horror traveled through the stands, and she saw Professor Dumbledore rushing from the judges' table. "Oh my God, Diggory!" she heard someone call out. But it was not a congratulatory call. The voice, whoever had uttered the words, had been horrified. Something was terribly, terribly wrong. 

Cho fought her way through the throng that was trying to see what was going on. Cedric... he was smart. He might be injured... but he was all right. Wasn't he? 

At last, she managed to make her way through the crowd to a vantage point where she could see what was going on. And what she saw made her heart stop, fall to the ground and shatter into a thousand pieces. 

Harry Potter, his face ashen, green eyes huge on his face, scar standing out livid against his milk-white skin, stood there, a numb look of shock on his face. In one hand, he held the Triwizard cup. In the other, he held the arm of Cedric. 

Cedric was quite clearly dead. 

She felt her insides turn to frozen lead. It was wrong. She was imagining things. She had to be. She _had to be!! Cho reached up a hand to her hair and gave a tug, then winced. No... she felt it. She was not dreaming. This was real.... NO! __NO NO NO **NO**** NO******__ NO!!!!! Her body seemed to take a mind of its own, as her brain seemed to have gone into a broken-record mode. _

She didn't even feel the tears starting until she was nearly blinded by them, and she stumbled backwards, then ran, uncaring of what or who she might be bumping into. Distantly, she heard a scream of anguish ripping through the air, and realized that it was her own. 

There was nothing to stop her... she was flying forward, without any brakes. Until she crashed into a warm, solid body, and reflexively put her arms around it, clinging desperately to the person. To something alive. She didn't know who it was, nor did she care. Even if it had been Professor Snape, she would not have given any protest. She needed warmth. Someone to hold. Someone to hold her. 

Roger Davies, a look of pain on his face, tightened his arms around her trembling body. 

"This wasn't supposed to happen," Cho sobbed.  _"This wasn't supposed to happen!!!"  It was a strange sort of tranquility she felt inside her mind as her body and heart raged against the truth.  It hurt-it hurt terribly-but she somehow managed to think straight even so, though she couldn't for the life of her make the words in her mind come out of her mouth.  Only tears and exclamations as to the unfairness of it all came.  She thought she may have regressed into Chinese at one point.  Whoever was holding her continued to do so silently, letting her cry her eyes dry.  She was glad that whoever it was understood.  She didn't need or want words of reassurance-how could one say "it will be all right" when everything was clearly so wrong?  She just needed someone to hold her down while she raged._

Slowly, exhaustion took over.  The tears flowed steadily, but her whole body was starting to feel numb and heavy.  She could tell that most everyone around her had gone back to the castle.  She heard crickets and nothing else.  Silence.  Finally she looked up.  Her eyes, cried red and puffy, widened.  "Roger?"

He looked down at her silently and felt his heart break at the pain in her eyes.  He couldn't say anything at all.

Instinctively, she tightened her hands around his robes where she had clutched at them.  "God, Roger… Roger, please…" She took a deep, shaky breath, but the tears showed no sign of stopping.  "Oh please, Roger, I don't know what I did, I swear I don't know, but I will get down on my knees I front of you and plead for forgiveness… Just don't leave me alone… please, please don't leave me alone…"  Her head fell back to his chest and she breathed slowly, trying to remind herself why she was standing when she so wanted to fall into oblivion, telling herself in turns that this was another nightmare and she would soon wake up and then reminding herself that it was real and she had to stay together.  "Please," she whispered.

Roger, his face pained, ran his hands down her back in comfort.  "I won't go anywhere," he said lowly.  "It's all right.  Cry all you need to."  He let her cry until he felt her head drooping heavily, and then he picked her up and said "Come on, Cho, you need to go to the Infirmary."

She shook her head sleepily.  "I just want to go to bed… don't take me up there right now…"

Roger sighed and nodded.  "All right.  I'll go tell Flitwick where you are afterwards."  The professor, as well as many others, had approached him while he held her and looked sympathetic.  He hadn't let anyone take her away, though heaven knew the nurse had tried.  He doubted she had even heard it through the torrential downpour of her grief.  "Go to sleep, Cho."  He didn't tell her things would be better in the morning-how could he?  He only carried her half-asleep figure up the steps and into the castle.

            Ravenclaw Tower had never been so deafeningly silent as it was when Roger, with a tight jaw and a set face, carrying an unconscious, ashen, swollen-eyed Cho, walked in. No one spoke. Although Cassandra and Melissa had started to step forward to offer their roommate their condolences, they were stopped by the look in Roger's eyes, a look that clearly said, "Stay away from her right now, and don't say a word." Confused, the two girls turned to Penelope, who silently shook her head. 

Everyone looked uncomfortable, and Henry Vanderhoff finally stepped forward slightly, whispering to Roger whether or not he needed help to carry Cho to her dormitory, so she could be put to bed. Roger looked down at the small form in his arms, her head burrowed in his chest. Her little hands were clenched around handfuls of his robe, clinging desperately. 

Finally, he shook his head, and sat down on the couch, laying her down as best as he could across the blue velvet length. Penelope came forward and covered the younger girl's body with a blanket, and gradually, the others, everyone with a somber, scared look on his or her face, walked out of the common room to the dormitories. Roger was left alone with Cho, fast asleep in his arms, her body still shaking periodically with sobs.

Roger absently smoothed down her hair as she slept, cheeks marked with tearstains. What was he to do now? How _did one comfort the girl he loved, who had just lost the man __she loved? _

She moaned slightly in her sleep, and he reflexively tightened his hold on her. He glanced down at her face, half-covered with hair, and visible in the dying firelight. He remembered the last time that she had fallen asleep like this, with her head in his lap. That had been the day before the Gryffindor/Hufflepuff match last year. Before everything had fallen down. She had been smiling then. 

Would she ever smile again? And if she would... would he ever be there to see it? 

He knew that he would get no sleep that night.

***

            Cho awoke the next morning with a headache.  Other than that, her mind was blank.  She was comfortable, but miserably unhappy.  She didn't know why.  Suddenly, just as she was considering getting up and heading to the Infirmary for a headache remedy, everything came crashing back to her.  Cedric.  Oh God, _Cedric._

            Wordlessly, without moving, Cho began to cry.  The tears poured silently from her eyes in the gray light of pre-dawn, and the silence around her and the cool, usually comforting air of the Ravenclaw common room made her cold, but she couldn't have moved or spoken, so she only lay and cried and shivered.

            Moments later, she was brought up by a pair of strong arms, and Roger held her against him, and it was warmer, and slowly she stopped shivering.  "Hi," he said, unable to think of what else to say.  "Good morning" wouldn't have done at all.

            "'Lo," Cho replied softly.

            "You should eat," he said.  She only shook her head.  "All right then.  Do you want to go up to your dormitory?"  She shrugged.  Roger sighed.  "Listen, Cho, I'm sorry-I'm so sorry about-"

            She quieted him with a soul-searching look.  "Are you going away again?"

            He gave her half a smile.  "No.  I'm staying right here."

            She took a shaky breath.  "Good."  She lowered her head onto his shoulder and fell back to sleep.  Roger sighed once more and ran his hand exhaustedly though her hair.  She cried unknowingly long after she had fallen asleep.

***

            It was the same all week.  Cho was silent, and only Roger seemed to be able to get her to talk.   Penelope brought her food constantly.  Cho ignored the dishes that sat in front of her as the tears fell relentlessly.  No one tried to speak with her or interest her in anything at all.  She became the ghost of Ravenclaw Tower, and silence descended upon any room she entered.

            A week later at the Parting feast, Dumbledore spoke of Cedric.  Cho, flanked by Roger on one side and Penelope on the other, cried silently as she had before.  More than one face turned to her when Cedric was mentioned.  Had she cared, she would have seen that Fleur watched her with sympathy and Harry with grief.

But Cho didn't care.  Nothing mattered at that moment except getting out of there.  She didn't want to be in a room full of people, none of whom had ever known or understood Cedric Diggory.  They mourned for him because he had been one of their number, because he had died at the hands of something evil, something frightening.  She mourned simply because he had taken with him a piece of her heart.

She remembered still that brotherly kiss on the forehead the night before, his melancholy musings as to the nature of the stars, the bittersweet look, all of the words he had said, words she had been ready to contest with him at the first opportunity.  Only that opportunity would never come, and Cho knew with the same kind of cold certainty which caused her to ace Defense Against the Dark Arts exams that things had shifted the night before everything had happened and now, now there was no way for her to put it back to rights.  Her world was tilted on a strange axis and she had no idea where it would tilt now and whether she would stay on at all.

"Cho, you should eat," Roger said next to her, looking at her with desolate eyes.  It was hard to see her haunted like this.  Her eyes were dilated, black as the night, and blank, as though her mind had effectively stopped.  Her cheeks were sinking in a bit and her eyes had bags underneath them.  Her skin was continuously tender from tears meandering down her face.  She didn't speak.  "Please, have some of this soup at least."

Silently, Cho opened her mouth and accepted the spoonful he offered her and swallowed the thick warm liquid.  The first spoonful was followed by a second and she ate, her eyes closed, accepting without argument as a baby bird might accept from its mother.  Roger fed her, watching her face, aware of Penelope looking at both of them with her eyes shadowed and of Calista next to her, squeezing her hand tightly.

There was no laughter as there had been the year before, and at the Ravenclaw table, the only tears were Cho's.  But the silence belonged to everyone as the House of learning watched one of its brightest stars flicker in her existence.  No one said anything at all.

Thus the year at Hogwarts ended.

***

After the ordeal of the Parting Feast, Roger, one arm still protectively around the weeping Cho, walked slowly back to Ravenclaw Tower. Now and then, he would glance down at her, and every time, he would see the same thing. A pale, crying Cho, who somehow remained heartbreakingly beautiful even now, in her pain. He thinned his lips. _No... Roger Davies, you are one selfish, abominable git. Now is not__ the time... she needs a friend, she does not need you to moon over her when she's like this. _

Finally, with her stumbling along as he gently led her forward, they reached Ravenclaw Tower. Roger whispered the password, "Sapience" to the portrait, and it opened, casting sympathetic, commiserating glances down at the two bowed, dark heads. Roger led her in, and once again, they sat on the couch, Cho wearily laying her head in his lap. A pair of pitiful dark eyes looked up into his, and his heart gave a painful wrench in his chest. He wanted to say, "Please, please... just... smile again..." but he knew that it would be futile. So, instead, he simply let her cry herself out once more, stroking her hair softly, feeling near tears himself at the grief-stricken expression on her face.

Finally, she calmed down, and it seemed that the inner turmoil had abated slightly. Her voice was soft when she addressed him, "Roger..."

"Yes?"

"I... thank you..." she said softly, "And... I'm sorry..." a few tears drifted out once more, and he quickly wiped them away with his hand. 

"Shh... don't... don't worry about it," he said soothingly. Cho gave him what looked like a valiant but vain attempt to smile. 

"Roger... can we not go home on the train tomorrow?" she asked, "I... I... everyone is..."

"Of course we don't have to. I'll owl our parents and we can take a coach home, we don't have to have anyone there with us, and you don't have to see anyone..." he hurriedly replied. "I'll go and do it as soon as possible." Cho nodded, and slowly got up. He stood, and gave her an awkward hug.

After a quickly scribbled note to his mother telling her that Cho and himself were going to come home on a carriage this year, he ran off to the Owlery. Cho watched him leave, and slowly sat back down on the couch. Her face, though pale and tearstained and weary, was calm. There were no more tears to cry. 

He came back a few minutes later, and sat back down next to her, his face nearly as pained as hers. However, he did not say anything, and neither did she. The two of them just sat there, her head resting upon his shoulder, in the exhausted silence that comes after the storm of grief. Everyone else was packing and getting ready to leave the next day. Penelope and Calista came down the stairs from the fifth year girls' dormitory, and the former told Cho that they had packed her things for her.

"Thank you," Cho said softly. 

She remained silent for the rest of the night, but it was a start. And when she fell asleep on this last night of her fifth year, her eyes were dry.


	16. Take My Hand

 ~*Everything You Want*~

Chapter Sixteen: Take My Hand

Dove: Yay!  It's the _last chapter!!!!!!!!  There shall be an epilogue, but this is where the continuous saga ends.  Happyhappyhappy!   Thank you to a very old Sailor Moon fanfic titled "As the Tears Fell" for the present idea… that ficcy made me cry!  Anyway.  Enjoy this, and be on the lookout for "The End and the Beginning", the last in the Lolita triology, under my name but by both of us which, just between you and me, will turn to Roger/Cho and Draco/Ginny imminently…_

Thalia: And the much-anticipated fluff hath finally arrived! Yay! Roggie and Cho are happy now... and they deserve it, after all the hell we put them through. They've suffered enough for being dense.~.^

Disclaimer: I, Thalia, thankfully do not own them. They've been snogging for three hours straight! GAH!! *muttering about public displays of affection*

_"See my eyes, they carry your reflection_

_Watch my lips and hear the words I'm telling you_

_Give your trust to me and look into my heart and show me, show me what you're doing_

_So sit on top of the world and tell me how you're feeling_

_What you feel now is what I feel for you_

_Take my hand and if I'm lying to you_

_I'll always be alone_

_If I'm lying to you_

_Take your time, if I'm lying to you_

_I know you'll find that you believe me_

_You believe me..."_

-Dido, "Take My Hand

By mid-July, Cho was as close to herself as she had been in months.  She ate without prompting, she didn't wake with nightmares every night, and she was known to smile softly at jokes, although she had yet to laugh again.  Her family and Roger's were patient with her, and though she did feel rather like they were treating her as though she was made out of porcelain, she was grateful to them.

            On the sixteenth of July, Cho stood in the kitchen, listening to the rain patter against her window and stirring a mixture of things in the wok on the stove using long cooking chopsticks.  She had offered to make dinner, and her parents hadn't protested, going instead to some luncheon her mother had been invited to.  The silence was absolute except for the gentle rainfall, and she found it soothing.

            She felt better.  She thought that she would never feel complete again, but she did feel as though there was a purpose to her life again.  It was simply unclear in her mind yet.  She had faith it would come into focus in time.

            That day reminded her of Cedric.  She wasn't sure why.  The night before, she had watched the stars out of her window and remembered.  The memories had been happy ones for the most part, and she had slept with a smile on her face.

            Now they carried over.  Her mind was playing back pieces of their last conversation as her hands mindlessly performed their task.

            _"You go through the motions of life. You go to your classes, do your Prefect rounds, smile at everyone without seeing anyone. Except for him, and everything that surrounds him. You can't go on like this. To the rest of the world, you might seem like you're just fine, but I know better…"_

            She shook her head.  It was funny.  Everyone thought she was upset about Cedric.  And she was.  She was heartbroken over Cedric.  But that heartbreak had come on top of another, and two at once had simply been too much for her to handle.  "Do you know, Cedric," she mused aloud, "we're not fighting anymore.  I'll bet that makes you happy.  He comes in my door without knocking again and plops down at the kitchen table as though he lived here.  But he looks at me like his heart is broken.  Is that how I look too?"

_            "…My best friend, and the fact that she's been heartbroken for nearly two years. I've been watching you, Cho, and this just can't go on."_

"You always worried about me."  He had been her big brother.  Musing under her breath, she tossed a few strands of her hair impatiently back from her face.

Just then, the back door opened and Roger, wet with rain, came in.  "Hullo, Cho.  Have any food?"

            "I will in a minute," she smiled softly.  "Take a seat and grab some juice if you'd like.  Find a towel first, though.  Or cast a Drying Charm."

            "Assiccare," he said, waving his wand over his head.  Then Roger sat at the table and his eyes followed her as she moved efficiently around the room.  "When did you find time to learn how to do this?"

            "Here and there," she shrugged.  "My mother would have been devastated if I didn't know how.  I would be a failure as a woman."

            Roger laughed, realizing she had just made a joke.  It felt wonderful to hear it.  "What have you been up to?"

            She thought of the stargazing.  "Nothing much.  Passing the time.  Thinking over some things.  It was time for me to dig them up out of my memories anyway."

            Roger cocked a brow at her.  "Oh?"

            Cho wasn't sure she should think about all of this with him around.  "Just getting my mind in order.  It has a tendency to wander."  She put a cover on the simmering food.  "Want to go play Quidditch in the rain?"

            Roger grinned and nodded.  "Let me get my broom."  He vanished out the door.

_"For a Ravenclaw, you can be really dense sometimes, Cho Chang."_

Despite herself, she grinned as she fetched her Comet and went outside.

"Quidditch in the rain" soon became a war of who could splash the other the most with the rainwater. At the moment, Roger seemed to be winning, and was chasing Cho in circles around the yard. A moment later, the small girl disappeared into the foliage of a nearby tree.

Roger, not to be deterred, followed her... and got soaked. She had transfigured a branch into a watering can, and was gleefully drenching his head and shoulders. He coughed and sputtered, his hair drooping into his eyes. "I'll get you for that, Chang!"

Cho watched, a grin playing at the corners of her mouth as he shook his head, sending water droplets flying everywhere. His hair was plastered to the top of his head, but the ends stuck out on the sides. The effect was so comical that a laugh bubbled deep inside her throat, and escaped from her lips.

Roger stopped mid-shake, hearing a sound, a beautiful sound, that he had not heard in so very long. Cho was laughing. Spritely giggles escaping from her throat, as she watched him shake the water from his hair. He gave her a mock-glare, even though he was jubilant inside.

"C'mere, you..." he reached over and pulled her close with one arm, ruffling her shoulder-length hair with the other. Her laughter gradually died down, but she was smiling. A real, genuine smile. And for him, because of him! He pulled her into a hug, and she hugged him back.

The back door of Cho's house opened, and Ying-Ying Chang peered out, "Cho, Roger, where are you? Dinner is ready, come in before you catch death of cold!"

"Coming, Mama!" Cho called, and she disentangled herself and her broom from Roger and the tree and landed on the ground. Roger dropped down a moment later beside her. "We'll have to do this again sometime," she said to Roger. He nodded, and together, they walked towards the house. 

Ying-Ying Chang and Cecilia Davies were looking at the two in amusement. Both soaked to the bone, hair and clothing a mess, dragging their broomsticks behind them, and grinning ear to ear. Ying-Ying tut-tutted for a moment, and cast a drying charm on both of them, telling them to go to the bathroom and wash their hands. The two, still smiling, did as they were told.

Cecilia watched her son follow Cho to the sink, and grinned at her friend, "I've an awfully strong feeling that your daughter's going to be the mother of my grandchildren some day. Ten Galleons that the first is a daughter."

Ying-Ying simply laughed and led Cecilia to a seat at the table.

***

Over the next week, Cho's laughter became a frequent sound.  It didn't rain anymore, but she and Roger played Quidditch anyway.  Roger was composing in major keys again, and Cecilia and Ying-Ying walked about with glowing faces as though they knew a marvelous secret.  As for Roger and Cho themselves, both were enjoying having a best friend again far too much to actually say anything to alter the situation.

            This changed on the twenty-third of July, on the eve of Roger's birthday.  Cho had taken her portable telescope outside and set it up in Roger's yard near the birdbath, as there were too many trees in her own yard.  Methodically, she named constellations.  She spent a bit longer on Orion and smiled despite herself.

            That was how Roger found her, coming outside to escape his father's constant queries as to why he had been stupid enough to sign his adult life away to the Auror Guild.  It wasn't that he disapproved, Cecilia would say, only that he worried.  Roger wished he would worry a bit less.

            Seeing Cho, he ambled over to her and sat down.  "Orion bright tonight?" he asked carelessly.

            Cho gave a half-giggle which managed to sound rather sad.  "Do you know, that's what Cedric asked me the first time he caught me in the Astronomy Tower after hours."

            Despite his best efforts, Roger's heart gave a pang.  "Cho-"

            Cho tore her eyes from the telescope.  "No, Roger, hush, all right?  I think it's really time some feelings were aired.  Will you listen to me?"

            Roger shrugged uncomfortably.  "Listen, Cho, I know you loved him."

            Cho sighed.  "Yes, I loved him.  I loved him in the same way I love Penelope or Calista.  He was the best friend I've ever had, Roger, because he never judged and never jumped to conclusions.  But he was just my _friend, Roger.  There was never, __never, anything more than that.  Just… do your best to suspend disbelief, all right?  I'm going to tell you absolutely __everything, under the condition that you will not judge and you will not babble.  All things considered, Cedric would have wanted you to know.  Are you going to listen to me?"_

            Roger nodded dumbly.

            "All right," Cho said.  "Try to listen, since I'm only going to explain this once.  Cedric was _gay, Roger.  He was interested in me only as a sister, a confidante, as someone who wouldn't give him away."_

            "Cedric was _what?" Roger's eyes bugged out._

            Cho smacked him on the arm, only half-playfully, "Oh, you heard me!  Ced spent the greater part of the past two years silently pining over Harry Potter."

            "Over… Harry… Potter…"

            "Yes, that's right.  Glasses, black hair, excellent Seeker, nice big scar?  I'm sure you know him."  Cho realized she was getting snippy and forced herself to calm down.  "That night I was gone, he called me to the Astronomy Tower because he wanted to tell me about Harry and be reassured.  Ced wasn't made of steel, you know.  People walk around lauding him like he was a saint, but he was only human.  He needed comfort, so I held him for the sake of giving him simple human kindness.  Then we fell asleep.

            "I woke up the next morning feeling really guilty because I had meant to talk to you about whatever it was you wanted… only you wouldn't talk to me at all."  She sighed.

            "When Cedric… died… I was devastated because, the way I saw it, I had lost the one person who loved me unconditionally.  He had been my only true friend for months and months."  She closed her eyes.  "Then you brought me out of it.  You held me when I needed to be held and were silent when I needed you to listen, and you made me remember that I still had a friend who cared about me."  She looked up at him.  "You made a hole in my life when you went away, Roger.  I couldn't understand why.  It took Cedric to tell me what had happened, what you must have thought…"

She took a deep breath.  "I'm trusting you with his secret because he liked you, even pitied you.  And he wanted nothing more than for us to work all this… silliness out and go back to how we were before.  I was unhappy, and he saw it.  You were unhappy too, I know you were.  So why don't we just put it all behind us, now that I've said my piece?  Please?"

            Roger stared at her, transfixed. All this information that she had just given him was whirling around in his head, making him slightly dizzy. One thing stood out. Cedric had been _gay... and he had liked __Potter. And he, Roger Davies... had jumped to conclusions, like the fool that he was. He opened his mouth to say something, although he was not sure what. But before he could, Ying-Ying Chang's voice drifted from the open window._

"Cho Chang, come inside; it's way past your bedtime, young lady!"

"Coming, Mother!" Cho rolled her eyes, then grinned apologetically at Roger, though her eyes were still serious. "Look, I have to go, but... talk to you tomorrow." He nodded dumbly, and stood up as well. They looked at each other silently for a moment, and then Cho threw her arms around him in an impulsive hug. She leaned up, and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. Then, blushing slightly, she turned and went back towards her house.

"Oh, and happy birthday tomorrow, Roger!" she called over her shoulder as she opened the door and walked in. He simply stood, rooted to the spot, looking rather dazed, holding a hand over the spot on his cheek where she had just kissed him. 

***

The next day was a flurry of people and activity. Roger was eighteen, and recently graduated. As thus, it meant lots of relatives and friends coming over to wish him well and shower him with presents. Cecilia and Ying-Ying, as well as Cho, had spent the day in the kitchen, refusing staunchly to let him in and see what they were doing. 

Dinnertime rolled around, and finally, Cho emerged from the kitchen, an apron still tied over her white dress and a smudge of flour over one cheek, and greeted him. "Dumplings."

"Dumplings?" Roger repeated. Cho nodded and grinned.

"Dumplings. And almond cookies. And cake. And... strawberry pie. And a whole lot of other things that you like to eat. I think our mothers are trying to fatten you up before you leave..." her voice trailed off, and her expression became serious.

He simply nodded, but before he could say anything, a grinning Robin Harrison walked up to them and led him away, saying something about birthday spankings that made Roger blush and Cho giggle.

Roger noticed there had been no gift from Cho in the stack by the door.  But before he could tease her about it, she came out of her house and beckoned him in.  Shrugging, he made his excuses to his departing guests and followed her into the house and up the stairs to her room.  "What's with all the mystery, Cho?" he asked.

"Well," she said, opening her closet and rifling around on the floor, "you remember the Christmas before last when I brought you a gift?  It wasn't so well received, so I didn't come back after that, but…"  She came out triumphant with a very large sack.  "But something always compelled me, so…"  She grinned.  "Here's your birthday present for that summer," she said, handing him a large package.

"But… that summer I… was being such a total… you hated me, didn't you?"

"I despised you," she said easily.  "That didn't matter, though."

He opened the package to find a large, leather-bound book.  He flipped to a random page, and beheld the Chinese characters and concise English translations.  He looked down the page and absently put his finger on it.  "Bu yao yong sao zhu da wo," the book said clearly.

Cho fell over in a fit of giggles.

Roger shook his head.  "What's that about?"

"You… don't need to worry… the Comet's downstairs…" she managed.  After laughing a moment more, she explained.  "You always said you wished you knew Chinese.  This dictionary is enchanted so it will say the things you point to.  You know, a personal pronunciation guide."  She grinned widely.  "That's just in case you decided not to listen to me and Mama, I know you've learned to tune us out.  Besides, it talks slower."  She giggled again.  "Broomstick.  How appropriate.  I _did want to hit you with mine that day, prat that you were."_

Roger looked down at his place in the book and grinned.  Under sample sentences, "Please do not hit me with your broomstick" was included.

"You have an interesting sense of humor, Chang," he said.  "But… thank you."

"Don't start thanking me until after you see what a slave driver I can be," she suggested.  "Now, _this one is for Christmas of last year."  She gave him a smaller box which he opened to reveal yet another book, written, from what he could tell, in French.  "I couldn't find it in any other language, you know," she said with a grimace.  "At least it's an easy one.  I figured since you were so good at Charms it would be neat to find some obscure ones that would be… well, relatively useless, but entertaining.  It's a bit above Weasley standards-I've never seen anything before that will make your opponent spout Shakesperean curses for hours-yes, of course I took a dictionary to it-but I thought it might amuse you."_

"Is this a hint to become a linguist?" he laughed at her.

"Maybe," she said.  "Now, finally, the present of the day.  This took some work to hide, and it has been positively horrid not jumping up and down and telling you, but I've managed it."  She opened the window and whistled softly.  Moments after, a large eagle owl flew silently in and perched on Cho's arm.  Roger's eyes went very wide, for he knew how few could actually afford an owl of this caliber.  "Because Brunhilde is old," Cho said, referring to his current owl, "and because none of us know where you would be stationed, I have acquired a new friend for you.  She's healthy and strong, as well as very very fast."  With a gesture from Cho, the owl flew over to Roger and landed on his shoulder.  "That's so you never forget to write home," Cho said, with a small serious smile on her face.

Roger had no idea what he could say.  Finally, the new owl nipped his ear lightly as if telling him to get on with it and he tried a smile.  "Thank you, Cho."

She bit her lip and nodded.  "That first Christmas was-"

"A broomstick servicing kit," he finished for her.  "I opened it last night.  I meant to thank you."

Cho just smiled and shook her head.  "It's all right.  I'm glad you like them."

Roger looked at her for a moment, then grinned, "I owe _you a bunch of presents as well." Pointing his wand at his house, he called out "Accio Cho's presents!"_

Cho laughed as several wrapped packages flew from his open window towards where they were sitting. The packages landed in a heap on the bench in between the two of them, and Cho picked up the smallest one first.

"Christmas, when you came over to visit, and my mother gave you her combs," Roger said softly. She smiled slightly to herself, then looked at him.

"We weren't talking to each other, but we still got each other presents," she said, half-seriously, half-amused. He nodded, and motioned for her to open up the present.

It was a pair of small, glimmering sapphire earrings. Cho felt her breath catch in her throat. "They're beautiful," she whispered.

"They reminded me of you... even though I was angry with you," he blushed slightly, "Open the others."

She grabbed a larger package. "Christmas this year," he explained. "I thought you might need one..."

It was a cloak of deep blue velvet, lined with soft fur. "Oh Roger... you know you didn't have to..."

"I know," he said easily. "Open the rest."

A book on constellations and a pair of Quidditch gloves later, she threw her arms around him, a huge smile on her face.

"It's not my birthday any more, you know," she said softly, pulling back to look him in the face, "But... I think I want to take an extra present from you. For being a git and not giving them to me earlier."

And with that, she cupped his face in her hands and gently pressed her lips against his.  It was only a moment, but Roger's mind was spinning when she released him.  "Cho, I don't know… I mean you… and I can't just _make you… I mean, right now-"_

She out a hand to his lips to quiet him.  "For a Ravenclaw, you can be really dense sometimes, Roger Davies," Cho said with a hesitant smile.  "I've been in love with you for over a year.  You've been in love with _me for longer.  And you couldn't __make me do anything if you tried.  Now, are you going to stop being a prat?"_

Roger grinned at her, rather like a little boy at Christmas, silent for a few moments before reaching for her and pulling her close.  "All right."

Downstairs, noticing it had at last grown quiet on the second floor, Cecilia grinned at Ying-Ying as they continued to clean up in the kitchen.  At last, things were exactly as they should be.


	17. Epilogue: Swear It Again

~*Everything You Want*~

Epilogue: Swear It Again

Thalia: *cries* It's done... it's done.....I'll miss it sooo much!! *composes self slightly* I hope that you all have enjoyed the adventures of Roger and Cho. Until next time...

Dove: Yes, next time, when we get to start all over, and Roger gets to break up a "catfight between the Head Boy and a teacher!"  But that's for "The End and the Beginning".  We hope to see you there.  We loved sharing this story with you… we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!  *makes self stop crying* I'm getting bloody sentimental over a fanfic again!  *runs off to cry in Andy-chan's lap*

Disclaimer: *sob* Not *sniffle* ours…

_"I'm never gonna say goodbye,_

_'Cause I never want to see you cry,_

_I swore to you my love would remain,_

_And I swear it all over again..."_

-Westlife, "Swear It Again"

Cho Chang stirred a pot of soup on the stove, humming to herself softly. Tucking a braid of long black hair back over her shoulder, she gazed out the window at the setting sun with a contented smile on her face. It was her twenty-second birthday, and earlier during the day, she had gotten an owl from Roger, bearing a spray of plum blossoms and a single red rose, along with a letter that had her blushing and giggling like a schoolgirl for a good hour.

            He had stated in his letter that her real present would be delivered later on, and that he hoped that she would like it. She had quickly written him a reply, saying that she trusted his taste, which had improved dramatically since the Yule Ball her fifth year. The owl, Troilus, was the same one that she had given him for his eighteenth birthday, all those years ago, when, after a long, silly and entirely pointless year of trying their best to hate each other, they had finally been honest with each other about how they felt. She had watched Troilus fly away out the window with a nostalgic smile on her face.

            It had been hard, trying to keep in touch, not seeing each other for weeks at a time. There were white nights and lonely letters flying back and forth. But they had made it. And, if she had any say in the matter, they would continue on, together, for a long time yet.

            There was a small pop in the foyer. Somebody was home, probably one of her parents. Just as she was about to turn around, she heard a happy baritone voice calling out, "Accio Cho!" and found herself flying into Roger's arms.

            She had time for one shrieking giggle before his mouth covered hers and his arms came around her waist.  Her hands came up to bury themselves in the hair at the back of his neck (it was getting long again) and they stood together in the middle of the hallway and time seemed to stop, as it always did, before they broke apart.

            "First things first, I suppose?" Cho giggled breathlessly.  "Hi, by the way."

            "Hullo," he grinned down at her.  One of his arms tweaked the once-again long braid of hair snaking down her back.  "Did you miss me?"

            "Hardly at all," she lied with a grin.  "You're early.  You weren't supposed to be here for another week."

            He laughed.  "I know.  Happy birthday."

            She leaned her head against his chest.  His heartbeat was a thud in her ear.  She smiled.  "This is the perfect present.  How did you get them to let you go?"

            "Oh… told them I had something very important to do."  He looked down at her, eyes serious.  "Cho, I meant to-"

            There was a hissing sound.  "My soup!" she shrieked.  She was out of his arms and back at the stove with wand out in a flash, so quickly Roger thought she might have Apparated.  He sighed.  That was attempt number one.

            There was a louder hissing sound, and Cho dropped her wand and seized the pot, only to let go of it a moment later and dash to the sink, rinsing her hand in cold water. Roger slowly walked forward. "Are you all right?"

"Yes... yes, just let me get this blasted thing..." she muttered, then cursed fluently in Chinese as the pot started bubbling over. Roger, shaking his head slightly, went over and cast a slight Cooling Charm on the pot, which stopped bubbling. Cho shot him an amused but grateful look and took it off the stove, placing it on the table.

"All right, now... back to my birthday and other things..." She smiled and strode up to him, linking her arms behind his neck as he pulled her close, "I've missed you after all."

One hand fiddling with her braid, he smiled down at her, "Missed you more," he said softly before kissing her.

A little while later, Cho pulled away, her face rather red, though she still had a smile on her lips. "So... you were saying?"

Roger swallowed, and paused. _Now... come on... it's in the left pocket... you love her, she loves you... come ON, Davies!!_

Another pop, and Mrs. Chang walked into the kitchen. "Roger! What a pleasant surprise. We weren't expecting you until next week, but do join us for dinner!"

_Attempt two, Roger thought wryly as he made himself smile and accept the invitation._

Of course, this meant that Mrs. Chang, being the dear, hospitable Chinese mother that she was, immediately started bustling around in the kitchen, looking for ingredients to Roger's favorite Chinese dishes, ordering Cho to help her, muttering about how the "poor boy needs a good home-cooked meal", and shooing Roger away whenever he offered to help.

Cho gave him an apologetic smile as she set a platter of steamed pickerel on the table. "After dinner, all right?"

"All right."

Dinner turned out to be quite a long affair. Ying-Ying had summoned Cecilia through the floo network, telling her that her errant son was home. Needless to say, Cecilia and Matthew Davies had headed over right away, and Roger got fussed over once again, much to his chagrin and Cho's amusement. It was not until nine o'clock, when everyone had finished eating and asking Roger questions about work, and both his parents and hers had retired, that he and Cho were able to be alone together.

"Let's sit outside," Cho said with a smile. He nodded, and followed her outside to his yard, and the little bench by the birdbath. She sat down and looked at him with a nostalgic smile.

"This is where we met," he remarked. She laughed lightly.

"Yes, and _you pulled my hair." She gave him a mock-glare, and he lightly tugged her braid again._

"Well, you have such beautiful hair... I was furious at you for cutting it!"

She raised an eyebrow, "I only cut it because you were being a prat."

He smiled to himself, "And you were too, that year, pretending to be in love with Cedric, making me mad with jealousy..."

"Well, what was I supposed to do when a gorgeous part-veela was batting her eyelashes at you? I wanted to tear her hair out!"

"You were supposed to remember that any girl, no matter how gorgeous, could never match up to a certain feisty... adorable... little... Chinese... witch." He punctuated his words with kisses, and she relaxed in his arms.

"We were rather dense, weren't we?"

"Yes, yes we were," he agreed. "But... now, we're not so dense any more, and we know where we stand, so Cho, may I ask you a question?"

"You just did, but go on," she looked at him expectantly.

He swallowed rather nervously. _It's now or never, Davies...  "Cho, you know I love you," he began.  "And I… I wrote out a whole speech, but I've forgotten it… because I'm never quite clear-headed around you, even after all these years, but…"  He swallowed, took a deep breath, and sunk down on one knee, rummaging in his left cloak pocket.  "Cho, I know I'm a few years too late; I've been scared to tie you down to me when my job was so dangerous, but… I realize more and more, every day, that I can't live without you by my side anymore and… this might be selfish, and in my line of work, there's always the chance I won't come home in the evening, but if I do, I want to come home to you…"  He opened the little velvet box he had procured at last from his pocket and a band of white gold, shimmering with a diamond surrounded by little sapphires sparkled there.  "Cho… I love you more than life, more than the world, more than anything, ever.  You are my light, my reason to wake up in the morning, the one thing I dream about, the most precious thing I have… will you marry me?"_

And Cho, who was dangerously close to tears despite the smile on her face, nodded, pulling him gently up from the ground and throwing her arms around him.  "I thought you weren't ever going to ask," she said on something that was a cross between a laugh and a sob before she stood on her tip-toes, drew his face down to hers and kissed him in the moonlight by the shadowy shape of an old, wind-worn birdbath.

***

            "...And that is why you shouldn't worry so much about Dorian Malfoy. You see, when you're young, there will always be silly misunderstandings. And boys... well, they can just be really dense." Cho smiled at the fifteen-year-old girl sitting next to her, her face a younger version of her own with only slight differences in the lines of the jaw and hair a shade lighter. Charisse Davies smiled up at her mother.

            "Well... I guess that I don't have it the worst after all... you and father and that quarrel that lasted over a year... and you had known each other since you were kids!"

            "You better believe it," Cho smiled wryly. "But see, it all works out in the end. Just make sure that you really, truly love someone, you won't give up on it, and..." Cho gave her daughter a very conspiratorial look, "If he persists in being a prat, make him shut up by Silencing Charm if necessary and yell at him until he listens."

            Charisse giggled, and a deeper, amused voice spoke up at the door. "What in the world do you think that you are teaching our daughter, Cho?"  Roger Davies looked indulgently at his wife and daughter sitting together on a couch, and shooed Charisse off to bed. He raised an eyebrow at his wife, waiting for her to answer his question.

            "Oh, nothing much, just what to do when she falls in love against her will with some thick-headed boy, based on my own experiences," Cho answered archly.  Roger mock-glared at her, and she laughed. "Well... I'm just trying to spare Charisse a little trouble, that's all. Don't you think that's a good idea?"

            He chuckled wryly, "Come to think of it... perhaps you're right. Although this boy in question..." his eyes narrowed slightly into the selfsame expression that used to drive Death Eaters to tears back before Voldemort's defeat. Cho rolled her eyes.

            "Oh come on... like we were any better at that age..."

            He finally relented, and his face broke out in a smile, "True enough, I suppose."

            Cho grinned, "But... we made it."

            He sat down next to her, and she laid her head on his shoulder. Taking her hand, the small, slender hand that wore his ring, in both of his, he smiled. "Yes we did."


End file.
